The sorry saga of State Police Lt. Robert Burns and his accessing of data on his ex-wife and a couple of her gentlemen friends has degenerated into a messy tangle of he-said, she-said back-and-forth claims that in turn has generated an unusual volume of comments on the original LouisianaVoice STORY.
The central theme of those comments revolves around claims that Burns’ ex-wife, Carmen Hawkins had illegally accessed medical records at her place of employment, Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge. Like student records and attorney-client communications, medical records are considered sacrosanct, protected at all costs from scrutiny and/or dissemination by unauthorized personnel. Violation of HIPAA privacy rules are punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 under criminal statutes and fines of up to $25,000 per violation under civil codes. Employee disciplinary actions include suspension and/or termination.
Hawkins vehemently denied those claims and even went to far as to include those denials in a lawsuit filed against Burnes and Louisiana State Police (LSP).
Without delving further into the disciplinary action taken against Burns, which has already been discussed thoroughly, and without speculating on the merits of Hawkins’ lawsuit against Burns and his employer, it has been decided to let the LSP investigative report on Burns speak for itself as it regards claims of HIPAA violations on Hawkins’ part.
In that LSP report, Hawkins advised investigators that OLOL “investigated the allegation, which showed there was no evidence of her doing this.”
She repeated her claim of innocence in her LAWSUIT, saying Burns impugned her professional reputation and “included the false allegation that (Hawkins) had accessed confidential, personal health information…” She said those claims “resulted in the termination of (her) employment and have prevented her from obtaining comparable, alternative employment.”
But the LSP investigation did not end with her protestations of innocence:
“Investigators spoke with the Chief Compliance Officer at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, (redacted), who acknowledged they received a complaint and advised that at no time was there any misrepresentation that the person filing the complaint acted in an official capacity. (redacted) said their investigation confirmed, without a doubt, that the team member in question violated their polices, as well as HIPAA privacy regulations.”
The report noted that the OLOL spokesperson did not identify either party—the complainant or the hospital employee—by name but it went on to say that investigators “concluded that if Lt. Burns was the person who filed the complaint, he exercised his right to file a complaint against (redacted) and his actions did not rise to a level that violated any LSP policies.
If Hawkins is innocent of HIPAA infractions as she claims, it is interesting to note that she did not name Our Lady of the Lake as a defendant in her lawsuit.
Louisiana Voice 
Ouch. This story is the gift that keeps on giving.
They should probably contact a veterinarian. Sounds like a case of “HIPAA Dysplasia”. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. A dog deserves better treatment than these people. Unlike these troopers, at least a dog is loyal and more concerned for his owner than himself.
Louisiana is an “at will” state. They can fire you at any time for any reason unless it’s discrimination. A lawsuit would never be heard in court outside of discrimination against OLOL.
But OLOL told state police investigators she was the one who accessed patient information in violation of HIPAA regulations—which is grounds for firing.
So the truth comes out!! And Hawkins/or family
member has posted numerous times about how she was not fired for violating the HIPAA LAW!!! This report is telling me something different… it’s telling me she was fired for violating the HIPAA LAW! I don’t know you Hawkins, but what you have done is unacceptable! Looking at medical records that were not yours?? At least if Burns looked up the vehicle info.. (the report states your name and his were both on the vehicle) then how could that be illegal? He was running his own vehicle! The other two well I’m not sure about those. But the 50 some times is crazy.. he was running his own, (sounds like you were still attached to the vehicle somehow), but you were not looking at your records.. you were looking at other Patient’s records.. That is much more serious!! I have a call into the hospital about this matter, which everyone should have their records checked.
Maybe, just maybe, you should consult the public record of the Louisiana Workforce Commission (you can requestthese records rather easily)who issued TWO judgements in favor of Hawkins stating that OLOL dismissed her without merit and out of convenience since there is no evidence of wrongdoing by her. It’s obvious you are choosing to depend on the IA investigation conducted by an organization that had a whole lot to lose by making public any more than they were forced to expose. Maybe you should consider the fact that the officer (s) conducting the IA investigation for LSP are personal friends of Burns and maybe just a little biased. Maybe you should think to yourself why no disciplinary action was taken against Hawkins until well after the complaint made by Burns and, coincidentally, after he had her falsely arrested for “cyberstalking” – a charge which he failed to be able to provide evidence of and the DA dropped like a hot rock. There’s so much more to this than what he’s telling you and she’s got all she needs to prove it in court. It didn’t have to come to this, but you can only back a girl so far into a corner.
Well she broke the HIPAA Violation the report stated. She deserves everything she gets.
And this “report” was conducted by a very biased employee of LSP who is a personal friend of Burns. What you are looking at above is their so called investigation which was incomplete and is precisely the reason she has a lawsuit. Funny how the La Workforce Commission ruled in her favor regarding her dismissal from her job…..not once but twice.
Furthermore, she’s unable to sue OLOL for wrongful termination because the state of La is an at will state, meaning they can dismiss employees at any time for any reason (or lack of) as long as it’s not discriminatory based on race, religion, sex, etc.
So the “biased” report caused the OLOL Chief Compliance Officer to say what they said? I’m confused. Or are you alleging the LSP investigators forged the comments?
I’m confused, why would the work force commission have to rule in her favor twice? Wouldn’t once be enough? So she was out of work how long, you said 3 months? So Hawkins are you telling us this report is false and OLOL is making this stuff up? Because a lot of people don’t believe you! A hospital of that size would have no reason to make it up! I’m confused too Smithy, it don’t make sense.