LITTLE ROCK — The mother of Anne Pressly is suing St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, a doctor with hospital privileges and two former employees, claiming they violated the privacy of the TV news anchor by accessing her medical records during the five days she was at the hospital before she died.
The doctor and the former employees are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to illegally viewing Pressly’s records in the days before her death.
Pressly, 26, was found beaten bloody and unconscious in her bed by her mother, Patricia Cannady, one year ago today. Pressly, who worked for KATV, Channel 7, never recovered and died on Oct. 25. Police arrested Curtis Lavelle Vance of Marianna 39 days later on the strength of DNA recovered from hair found at her Heights neighborhood home.
In the nine-page filing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey, the lawsuit states that the hospital’s record system doesn’t have protections to keep employees and doctors from accessing medical records they have no legitimate reason to see. The hospital should have better protections for its patients, particularly ones like Pressly who are public figures, the lawsuit claims.
“Failure to take any action to secure its database and the medical records of patients such as Anne Pressly fell far below the standard of care required of institutions such as St. Vincent’s,” the filing states. “This failure for all practical purposes made the violation of the privacy rights of any public figure who happened to be taken to St.
Vincent’s infirmary highly likely.”
Cannady is suing as the administratrix of her daughter’s estate, not only complaining of privacy violations but also claiming outrage and negligence.
“The conduct of the defendants was extreme and outrageous, was beyond all possible bounds of decency and was utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” the filing states. “[Pressly’s] privacy was invaded and she was deprived of the dignity and respect to which she was entitled. Invasion of privacy constitutes damage even if the individual whose privacy is invaded is not aware of the invasion. The damages suffered by [Pressly] during her lifetime survive her and are subject to be asserted by [Cannady] in her capacity as administratrix of the estate.”
The hospital has acknowledged firing at least six employees for violating Pressly’s privacy but won’t say exactly how many, and officials on Monday would release only a three-sentence statement defending the hospital.
“We take every patient’s privacy seriously,” the statement from spokesman Margaret Preston reads. “We stand by our commitment to patient privacy, our safeguards and how we handled this situation.”
Jay Holland, a doctor who worked at the hospital; Candida Griffin, a former emergency-room coordinator; and Sara Elizabeth Miller, a former account representative, are targets of Cannady’s lawsuit. The three have each pleaded guilty in federal court to a single misdemeanor count of violating federal health privacy laws, known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. They each face a maximum of year in jail and a $50,000 fine when they are sentenced next Monday.
Griffin and Miller were fired, acknowledging in their June court appearance that they looked at Pressly’s records out of curiosity during the first two days of her stay in the emergency room before she was moved to intensive care.
Holland told federal investigators he accessed her records from home on the day the attack was discovered after hearing rumors Pressly had died. He had his hospital privileges revoked for two weeks and had to complete training about the privacy law. Those guilty pleas could affect the civil suit.
“A plea of guilty in a criminal case is admissible as evidence in a civil suit,” Cannady’s attorney, Bobby McDaniel of Jonesboro, said.
There have been no discussions with the hospital about a settlement, McDaniel said. Cannady won’t entertain a settlement offer until the hospital enacts protections to prevent what happened to her daughter from happening to others, he said.
“We want to try to protect innocent people,” he said.
The lawsuit also names the hospital’s insurance providers - Catholic Health Initiatives and First Initiatives Insurance Co. - as defendants, acknowledging that the hospital, as a nonprofit institution, might be immune from prosecution.
Vance, who turns 29 on Wednesday, initially denied being in Little Rock when Pressly was attacked. After he was arrested and charged with capital murder, he gave police conflicting stories, at times admitting to attacking and molesting Pressly during a burglary. He also has blamed the slaying on others and said he doesn’t know who raped and killed her.
Vance, facing the death penalty, is scheduled to go on trial in less than two weeks. He is also charged with rape, residential burglary and theft.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/20/2009