If I used to work at medical office, can I be fined for letting my spouse know when a patient next appointment is?
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If I used to work at medical office, can I be fined for letting my spouse know when a patient next appointment is?
A patient made advances at me even though I made him aware that I was married. He wanted to know what time I got off so he could take me out etc. Even sent a edible arrangement to my office. I felt uncomfortable and not safe. So I let my husband aware of the situation telling him when is next appointment is. Never did I tell my husband the patient’s name address phone number, etc. just when and what time his appointment was.
Asked on February 24, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Maryland
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
First, unless you had an employment contract, you could be fired at any time, for any reason; without an employment contract, therefore, your employer could certainly fire you for this.
Second, even with an employment contract, you could likely be fired for this reason: 1) releasing any information about a patient, even just appointment schedules, would undoubtedly be a breach of office policy and/or the patient's privacy; and 2) your action, in alerting your husband to when a patient who had made a pass at you would be there, exposed the medical office to liabilty--for example, if your husband and the patient had an altercation and the patient were injured, he could sue the office because an office employee's actions led to his injury. These would almost certainly be grounds to terminate you for cause, even if there were an employment contract.
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