Despite allegedly using information inappropriately obtained from medical records to repeatedly harass his recently estranged family, state Board of Medical Practice officials did not punish a research doctor with the University of Minnesota's pediatric infectious diseases division, reports the Star Tribune. While Dr. Mark Schleiss, the accused researcher, currently refuses to talk, his family believes that his status with the University was the primary reason for the lack of discipline. 

"If he had been some nurse who had done this, he would have been fired," said Katherine, one of Schleiss's daughters. "[S]ince he's so high up, nobody wanted to take any action against it." 

In December 2008, Schleiss, who hadn't been living with the family, randomly showed up at a doctor's appointment for one of his other daughters, who was 15 at the time, despite never having been told about the appointment, according to the Tribune. Schleiss also allegedly obtained unlisted phone numbers from the records, as well as information about visits by his wife, Collett, to a therapist. According to the Tribune, university employees aren't allowed to access medical records for "their spouses or children 13 or older" unless they make a formal request for such information. 

Collett said she received letters in June 2009 from the University and Fairview Health Services informing her of her husband's actions, and was told shortly thereafter by the University of Minnesota Physicians that his access to medical records would be monitored for half a year. By November of that year, though, the only punishment Collett had been made aware of was a visit by her husband to another doctor to "address the board's concerns," something Collett called "extremely inadequate."

"That's basically sitting down to a lecture," she told the newspaper.

Federal regulators told Collett that they are looking into the matter. Hospital staffers from all over the country--from Arkansas to California to Iowa--have faced fines, and even loss of employment, due to peeking at private hospital records in past situations. 

For more information:
- read the Star Tribune's article

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