More with ties to UCLA may have snooped
Fourteen more people affiliated with the medical center, including four doctors, apparently viewed medical records of celebrities, including Britney Spears and Farrah Fawcett.
California health regulators have found that 14 more people affiliated with UCLA Medical Center, including four physicians, apparently viewed celebrity medical records without permission, bringing the number of current and former workers implicated in the snooping scandal to 68.
The additional violations came to light in a report by the California Department of Public Health, which was sent to the hospital Friday. The findings are the latest to stem from reports in The Times about UCLA employees prying into records of celebrities and co-workers. The regulators faulted UCLA for failure to maintain patient confidentiality and report the breaches to regulators.
The key findings relate to the activities of Lawanda J. Jackson, a longtime administrative specialist who allegedly pried into the medical records of 61 patients, including celebrities and co-workers.
According to the new report, Jackson reviewed the records of actress Farrah Fawcett on 104 days between July 1, 2006, and May 21, 2007. She also looked at the records of pop star Britney Spears, whose medical files have been viewed inappropriately by dozens of other UCLA workers, according to the report and interviews.
(Jackson is not mentioned by name in the records, nor are the celebrities involved, but their identities have been confirmed by The Times.)
Jackson, 49, was indicted by a federal grand jury last month for allegedly selling information to the news media from medical records of celebrity patients. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
Jackson had been in trouble before for snooping at UCLA, according to the new state report. Regulators found that Jackson had received "written counseling" in 2005 for improperly accessing the medical records of a co-worker.
She remained on the job until Fawcett complained to her UCLA doctor about a suspected breach, shortly after the National Enquirer reported last May that the actress' cancer was back. Fawcett had not yet told her son or closest friends about the recurrence.
Jackson resigned in July from UCLA after the hospital said it intended to fire her for "serious misconduct" in violation of federal patient privacy laws. In an interview in April, Jackson told The Times that she did not leak information to the tabloids and that she was just "being nosy."
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