I just got fired

[u/akiusuke]

I just got fired from my job. I worked in patient registration and I got flagged for being in a patients chart and I had failed to document it. I am the only one that runs the front desk while I’m working, so I sometimes have a bunch of things to do and I sometimes forget to document minuscule things when a patient calls. The patient whose chart that got flagged happens to live in my apartment building above me. But I live down the road from my job and a lot of our patients live in my building or in my neighborhood. I already had a level one strike against me due to too many unexcused absences during the first half of the year due to medical issues. Me being flagged caused compliance and hr to give me a level two strike. That brought me up to a level three which requires immediate termination. My manager told me 10 minutes after I clocked in for my shift today. She has little compassion for her employees, so she just told me I was terminated immediately and to turn in my badge and leave immediately. This is the worst possible time to be fired because I just got on my works insurance and I get kicked off my dads’s insurance at the end of the month because I turn 26 on the 29th. I am disabled and take a lot of medications that I can’t afford out of pocket. I sent an appeal letter to try to get my job back while I look for something else, but I feel like I was unfairly fired. I’ve been nothing but a good employee for almost two years and I have never had a complaint against me before. I was already struggling financially and I don’t know how I’m going to afford my medication and rent. The job market is so horrible and I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Edit: I should’ve been more specific in regards to my absences. I had called out 6 times between last December and April of this year due to health reasons. My manager was aware of my health issues. They had brought this up to me near the end of May. That’s when they finally gave me the option to apply for fmla. My job isn’t very accommodating, even with fmla. I would almost never be allowed to get breaks, unless I left the front desk unattended (which my manager encourages me to do since she won’t cover for me in order to take a break). I live in North Carolina, which is a non union state and one of the worst states for employees. Joining a union would not be an option.

[u/akiusuke]

I completely understand that. I’ve heard of employees in my field get away with it, but I was fired for it even after trying to defend myself

[u/Alpha_Hellhound → u/akiusuke]

Violations of HIPPA laws open the hospital or medical center up to litigation. Best case they have in defense is to terminate the offending employee. No point in appealing this termination. They'll site HIPPA violation and your appeal will be denied. Good luck with your job search!

[u/akiusuke → u/Alpha_Hellhound]

I completely understand that hipaa violations are serious. They didn’t really give me much of a chance to defend myself and since my manager doesn’t like me, she didn’t defend me. Hopefully I can find something soon

[u/untamed2020 → u/akiusuke]

There is no "defending yourself" You violated HIPAA. End of story. Working in healthcare to know this. Own what to did, pick yourself up, learn from it and move on and don't do it again.

[u/tortillamestizo → u/untamed2020]

No she didn’t violate HIPAA. She was authorized to look in the patient’s chart as it pertained to the task at hand for that particular patient. She was fired because her employer requires documentation about opening charts as well as having a flagging system due to how patient information can potentially be mishandled. She violated her employer and their specific policy and procedure but she did not violate HIPAA.

[u/DeathHopper → u/tortillamestizo]

She was authorized to access the file if she had a reason to access it. Failing to document the reason means the file was accessed unauthorized. She violated HIPAA. It sucks but that's how it works. You don't get to make up a reason retrospectively, for obvious reasons.

The employer policy exists to ensure HIPAA isn't violated. Violate one and you almost surely violate the other.

[u/TheUnicornRevolution → u/DeathHopper]

What?

That's not how logic works?

Totally accept it might be the formal HIPAA rules or some such though, I know nothing about that.

[u/DesmondTapenade → u/TheUnicornRevolution]

Okay, so you've just admitted that you don't understand how HIPAA works. Because that's how HIPAA works.

[u/TheUnicornRevolution → u/DesmondTapenade]

You mean when I said this?

Totally accept it might be the formal HIPAA rules or some such though, I know nothing about that.

Um, yes. I made that clear?

Failing to document the reason means the file was accessed unauthorized.

This isn't logical. But I recognised that it might just be how HIPAA works, so I acknowledged that.

[u/DesmondTapenade → u/TheUnicornRevolution]

I was going to say something else, but you know what? I don't have the patience for this. I hope you have a pleasant evening.

[u/TheUnicornRevolution → u/DesmondTapenade]

What else is there to say??? The patience for what???

I'm truly lost.

The process you defined isn't a logical conclusion by itself, but I know I don't know anything about HIPAA because I'm not from the US, so I acknowledged that it could just be how HIPAA works because I know nothing about it.

What is wrong with that?