Documents give details on Hennepin Healthcare employees fired for 'improperly' accessing George Floyd records

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The public is learning more about some employees at Hennepin HealthCare who were fired for accessing George Floyd’s medical information when they weren’t supposed to. 

An attorney for Floyd’s family was notified last month that his medical records were accessed multiple times by employees at the hospital, violating Floyd’s medical privacy and leading to the firing of several employees.

Through a public information request, FOX 9 obtained records of five employees terminated for accessing information related to a “high profile patient” without a work-related reason. 

Those documents show that a lab tech coordinator first told hospital officials they accessed the information on a request from the medical examiner but “accidently slipped” a few days later when they shared information from the medical file with coworkers.

A medical assistant in the surgery clinic told hospital officials they remember searching the patient’s name in the system but said they didn’t know why. 

Additionally, an office specialist with EMS admitted they did not have a work-related reason for accessing the information but was concerned about the safety of the paramedics who had worked on the patient. 

Documents show a paramedic also accessed the information and admitted to having no work-related reason to do so. Also, a recreation therapist said they looked up the “high profile patient’s information” because they were curious if the patient was taken to Hennepin HealthCare.

The information FOX 9 received is only the terminations that are final to date and don’t include terminations related to this that are being appealed or are going through the arbitration process.

The hospital reportedly learned of these violations during a routine audit on privacy access.