A dental practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, has sparked outrage after two employees posted a patient’s private information on social media.
The video they created likely exposes both the practice and the two employees to legal action and is just the latest incident to land the practice in legal trouble.
Two employees of Knoxville-based Premier Dental Group read a patient’s private diary and posted the contents on Snapchat.
The incident began when a patient at Premier Dental Group left her diary at the practice. It was found by two staff members who made a video of themselves reading the diary and posted it on Snapchat with the caption, “Found a patient’s diary and now it’s time for a story lol.”
This alone is abhorrent and unethical and has left many online outraged. The video was reposted on several social media platforms, including TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook, where viewers were horrified by the callousness and cruelty of the two employees in the video.
The video itself appears to have been deleted, but the anger it sparked remains, especially given the extremely sensitive nature of the diary’s contents.
The video contained extremely private details about the owner’s medical issues, which some believe is a HIPAA violation.
Calls for the immediate dismissal of the two women in the video were made across all social media platforms, including posts and comments on the now-closed social media pages of Premier Dental Group of Knoxville.
But some legal experts say the implications are likely to reach much further. The most shocking section of the video is when the two employees read out harrowing and heartbreaking details of the magazine owner’s battle with a terrible illness, while laughing and poking fun at her condition.
Speaking to local NBC affiliate WBIR, attorney Dan Bosch said the employees’ actions could constitute a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This federal law regulates the privacy and security of patient medical information and could result in licensing and civil penalties against Premier Dental Group.
“This was a poor decision by the dental office staff, and while their intentions may not have been malicious or angry and it was simply a mistake, it should not have happened,” Bosch told WBIR. “This certainly exposes their dental office to liability, both administratively in terms of licensing and civilly in terms of money.”
The Premier Dental Group posted an apology on Facebook for the incident, saying it did not reflect their values.
In a statement on its company’s Facebook page, Knoxville-based Premier Dental Group wrote that it was aware of the video and called its employees’ behavior “disrespectful and unprofessional.”
on facebook.
The practice further stated: “We deeply regret this incident and the pain caused” and expressed “our sincere apologies to the person or persons affected by this video and to their families and friends.”
The practice then claimed that the incident “does not reflect the values of Premier Dental Group of Knoxville,” that the company had launched an internal investigation, and that “the affected employees have been spoken to,” whatever that means.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the company’s apology was not well received online, with people feeling that the apology was insufficient given the damage caused and did not take into account the magnitude of the employees’ actions.
In its apology, the practice further stated that “actions speak louder than words” and that it would work to “maintain the trust” of its patients and employees. However, given the company’s history, this seemed like a major challenge to many.
The incident is the latest in a series of legal disputes at Premier Dental Group of Knoxville.
If this incident ends up in court – or even in multiple courtrooms – it wouldn’t be the first time. In 2023, Premier Dental Group agreed to repay nearly $1 million in false claims it filed between 2016 and 2020 with TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid system.
The lawsuit, filed by the FBI, the Tennessee Department of Justice, the Tennessee Department of Corrections, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, alleges that Dr. Michael Sawaf and his practice knowingly violated the False Claims Act, a federal anti-fraud law, and the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act by submitting false billings for dental services.
Two of Sawaf’s employees were also ordered to pay damages for similar offences. The claims included dental procedures that were billed as if they had been performed by licensed dentists, but were in fact performed by unlicensed dentists.
Social media users who claim to have worked with the women in the Snapchat video also allege they were fired by previous employers due to racist attacks, including hate speech in the workplace.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer covering pop culture, social justice and human issues.
