Celebrities' Medical Records Tempt Hospital Workers To Snoop

By Charles Ornstein / NPR

Published December 10, 2015 at 4:21 AM PST

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Nadya Suleman was dubbed "Octomom" after the birth of her octuplets.

Britney Spears was taken to the neuropsychiatric section of the UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31, 2008.

A bandaged George Clooney seen in New York in 2007, after he was injured in a motorcycle accident.

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Jacksonville Jaguars player Richard Collier joins his teammates on the sidelines for the national anthem on Dec. 18, 2008.

UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles has many celebrity patients.

Kim Kardashian, North West and Kanye West attend a fashion show in February.

Improper access to the medical information of celebrities and people in the news has been a bane of health systems around the country for years. The proliferation of electronic medical records systems has made it easier to track and punish those who peek in records for no legitimate reason.

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Below is a partial list of high-profile breaches and the consequences that followed, compiled from news reports.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom based in New York. This story is part of a yearlong examination into the security of medical information. Has your medical privacy been compromised? Help ProPublica investigate by filling out a short questionnaire. You can also read other stories in the Policing Patient Privacy series.