Associated Press
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —The UCLA Medical Center employee who allegedly breached the records of dozens of high-profile patients is a 49-year-old administrative specialist who had worked at the hospital for 32 years, according to a published report.
“It was just me being nosy,” Lawanda J. Jackson told The Los Angeles Times in a story posted on its Web site Tuesday.
When asked why she looked at the records of 61 patients without authorization, including actress Farrah Fawcett and California first lady Maria Shriver, Jackson said, “Clearly I made a mistake, let’s put it like that.”
“I didn’t leak anything or anything like that. It wasn’t for money or anything. It was just looking,” Jackson said.
UCLA and state health officials have not confirmed Jackson’s identity. The Times reported it verified her identity with a person familiar with the matter.
A phone message left by The Associated Press to a number listed under Lawanda J. Jackson was not immediately returned Tuesday.
The hospital initially said the worker was fired in May 2007 after UCLA learned of the widespread breaches. But UCLA spokeswoman Roxanne Moster told the Times Tuesday that the employee resigned in July before she could be fired.
The head of the UCLA hospital system, Dr. David Feinberg, apologized for the breaches and characterized as “rogue” the snooping employee.
Fawcett is battling cancer. Her attorney, Kim Swartz, said last week that after an employee at the hospital accessed Fawcett’s medical records, details about her treatment showed up in the National Enquirer.
In the interview with The Times, Jackson would not directly answer a question on whether she had ever spoken to the Enquirer. “I’m not going to answer that,” she said. “I’m scared to answer that. . . . I know I’m not the leak. I don’t believe I’m the leak.”
Feinberg told the Times that the hospital reviewed the fired employee’s e-mails and phone calls and found no evidence any confidential medical information was shared inappropriately.
In her position as an administrative specialist, Jackson provided “support to the Department of Nursing Administration, unit managers, clinical nurse specialists and staff,” Moster wrote in an e-mail to the Times. She also developed internal systems to streamline communications and worked on programs, events and special projects. Her salary was $46,046 in fiscal year 2006, according to the Times.
The peeking into Fawcett’s medical records became public last week. That news came a few weeks after the hospital announced that several employees were fired for peeking at pop star’s Britney Spears’ files.
The series of breaches have caused a major embarrassment for UCLA.
The secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, Kim Belshe, said Sunday that her agency is “very concerned about what appears to be a pattern of repeated violations.”
The state will be taking action against UCLA, she said.
Feinberg earlier said the hospital had not alerted the patients whose records were viewed nor did it report the breaches to the state health department or law enforcement authorities. At the time, it didn’t think it was required to do so.
UCLA now plans to notify all the impacted patients by phone and mail that their records had been improperly viewed, according to the Times.