Lindsay Lohan and Betty Ford Rehab

 

The laws surrounding patient privacy are some of the most strictly enforced in medicine and most hospitals and drug treatment facilities have rigorous systems in place to ensure only the appropriate individuals have access to patient information. That is why the recent release of information to the media about Lindsay Lohan by an employee at the Betty Ford Center was so surprising. This was an exceptionally rare event, particularly for a well respected treatment facility, and the Betty Ford Center fired this employee immediately.

 

Under normal circumstances, information about and individual's treatment at a drug rehab facility is exceptionally well protected. In fact, at most treatment facilities, if someone calls to inquire about an individual being treated there, the response given will be "I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of that individual at our facility". Even family members will not be provided inofrmation unless the individual in treatment has given express permission to the facility to speak with them.

 

In the case of Lindsay Lohan and Betty Ford, it appears that the employee who spoke to the media had been in a physical altercation with Ms. Lohan. The employee stated that she believed she could speak to the media because Ms. Lohan's presence at the facility was already publicly known. Obviously this was not the case and this was likely why she was fired from Betty Ford.