HIPAA: Does it Matter for Celebrities?

 Everyone's favorite "bad boy", Chris Brown is back in the news. Recently jailed after being dismissed from the Malibu rehab facility he has been at since November 2013, court documents filed by the facility were released earlier this month documentating his medical/behavioral issues and progress.

"Mr. Brown will… require close supervision by his treating physician in order to ensure his bipolar-mental health condition remains stable," the letter says. "It is not uncommon for patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar II to use substances to self-medicate their biochemical mood swings and trauma triggers. . . . Mr. Brown became aggressive and acted out physically due to his untreated mental health disorder, severe sleep deprivation, inappropriate self-medicating and untreated PTSD." (Source)

Reading the documents, I was initially shocked by how detailed they were. From revealing Chris' type of Bipolar Disorder to discussing his self medicating attempts, I actually felt bad for him. Why? Because it's too much information.

In this new age of social media, nothing seems to be private anymore. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and other platforms provide instant access to individuals 24/7, and celebrities are without exception. In a matter of seconds you can find out what your favorite celebrity ate for lunch or what they did during vacation. However some information should be kept discreet and that includes health info.


The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was created in 1996 to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information (read more here). In a nutshell, it gives patients the right to have their personal information respected and concealed.  All information is protected-electronic, written, and oral-and can not be shared or displayed without a patients approval. This information includes diagnosis and treatment, billing/payment information and conversations with health care personnel. Health Care plans (insurance), personnel, and third parties must all adhere to these rules and there is a hefty price to pay if you don't ( like $900k UCLA paid in 2011). HIPAA also gives patients access to their own medical records at any time and the ability to file a complaint if they feel their information has been accessed or used inappropriately.

Plain and simple, unauthorized disclosure of patient medical information is illegal. I am assuming Chris' health documents had to be disclosed in a court of law, but I am not sure if he agreed to have it released to the general public.  The question is why do we know all of his medical problems, and do we need to know?The media's obsession with celebrities has created an environment where more is never enough. Though HIPAA is intended to protect privacy, I think it drops the ball with celebrities. We may feel that full exposure is the price to pay for being rich and famous, but imagine if the whole world knew you had HIV, or that you wet the bed because of PTSD ( yea, they revealed that about Chris too).

Whatever your thoughts are on Chris Brown, I believe he is the victim of a society with a disturbing fascination with other people's problems. For his sake, I hope he gets the help he needs. For the rest of us, I hope we can all realize that the price of fame should not include breaching of medical privacy. No one deserves that.

OhemaasMD