Originally Posted by MelodyL

I have tried and tried to find this answer online, believe me I have, but can't find the answer.

The question is.

If a mother is brought into the hospital by her adult daughter (because the mother took pills), but there was really no danger and she survived, and the doctor walked out of the room, walked over to the adult daughter and said the following:

"We found cocaine, ambien, and other opiates in your mother's bloodstream".


Did the doctor, by doing what he did, violate the mother's privacy, her confidentiality, and by doing this, did he violate the HIPAA Law? My state is NY (if this matters at all)

All I can find online is that doctors can't speak to parents about their adult kids substance abuse, or discuss any private medical stuff UNLESS the adult child signs a waiver.

But in the previous case I mentioned, the mom signed no waiver. The doctor just blurted out what he blurted out.

I don't know where else to post this so I hope it's okay to post here.

Anyone know?

Thanks much