Re: Hippa Violation?

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If your friends ask "Were you sick?"
Tell em you got well real quick.
If they care enough to ask,
why should you take them to task?
If they bring up subjects you
don't like, you can change the topic, too!
A smile's less stressful than a trip to court --
and get-well-wishes ain't a tort.

Just A Law Student

On 11/21/05, Marie wrote:
> I am not sure that my HR person at work is instructing me
> correctly. I have an intestinal disease that I dont like
> to talk about and rarely do. I told my boss about it when
> I was hired becasue I felt she needed to know. She was
> aware of it as she had a past employee with this disease
> and her husband is an internal medicine specialist. Once
> at a luncheon (approx 8 months ago) with co-workers a
> comment was made on what I was eating. I said it doesnt
> matter what I eat it all goes right through me anyway. No
> one asked any questions and I didnt say more. In the last
> 4 weeks anytime that I was out or someone didnt see me
> they would bring up my illness. I had a conversation with
> my boss and her bosses admin that I do not want my illness
> talked about anymore. I dont want people to ask me how I
> am feeling. It is personal. I recently had a flare and
> let my boss know what was happening. I work from home one
> day a week and that is when I went to the doc for a
> procedure to help my flare up. The only one that knew
> about this was my boss. At another employee lunch I was
> asked "How is your stomach, I heard it was bad". I was
> upset that the information was shared. Apparently my boss
> told her bosses admin as an FYI and it was spread from
> there. I dont like to talk about my illness so I reacted
> poorly. I apologized later for my reaction but asked them
> not to talk about it again. Within an hour I received a
> call from the Seniors admin saying that I had talked about
> my illness in the past and put the blame another person
> who did not tell anyone. I didnt care I just wanted it to
> stop. I dont know what part of no these people dont
> understand. My hr generalist told me that because I
> shared this information in the past people are going to
> talk about it and ask me how I am feeling. There is
> nothing I can do about it. She said I am trying to
> control something that I cant and in a week I will feel
> better. I feel violated. I dont want to make problems
> but I dont feel it is going to stop. I am not embarressed
> of my disease. I have had it for over 15 years but I just
> dont want to discuss it especially over lunch.
>
> Do they have a right to talk about it anytime and continue
> to ask me how I am feeling even though I have told them
> several times I dont want to talk about it anymore?