Woman awarded $183,000 after hospital firing

FLINT (AP) - A jury has awarded a woman $183,000 after she said she was unfairly fired from Hurley Medical Center after accessing a family member's medial files. The Flint Journal reports the decision Monday in Genesee County came in the case of Yolanda Larry, who said the Flint hospital should have used discipline procedure outlined in the hospital's employee handbook. Jurors denied an allegation of racial discrimination. Larry's attorney, Glen Lenhoff, says the case shows that privacy rules "while laudable in principle, can sometimes be used by hospitals to unfairly fire employees." The hospital argued that Larry violated federal privacy rules when she accessed the medical files of a family member receiving treatment at the hospital. Hurley spokeswoman Ilene Cantor says the hospital takes matters of patient privacy very seriously. Published: Thu, Jun 12, 2014