Now I'm mad in a extreme way..

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
4,281
Location
Kansas, USA
Out of the blue I start getting records, shot-schools, for 4 kids in Florida! HIPAA violation I think. All with the last name Smith and obviously they're not the same race as I am. So I called the State of Florida in Tallahassee and kindly asked them why I was getting this stuff! The lady on the other end told me point blank they were looking for a african-american male. So I asked her how in the world they got my name. She said they went by demographics.. apparently they missed one. You know how many Eric Smith's there are in the US.. that's almost laughable.

1 I've never been to Florida and now I'm sure I never will. 2 I was 17 at the time of the first one from what I see and there's a few more but I'll keep those to myself. She was supposed to pass the message off to the lawyer to call me. Well go figure no call.. I'm starting to hate lawyers no offense elkpolk or others. Apparently I have to call in during the court precedings and say they're not my kid. Personally I've rather tell them to stick in their eye. But seeing that the lawyer never called back who knows. I left a nasty voicemail tonight and I'll call tomorrow perhaps even nastier. As far as I know they haven't touched my paychecks. Frankly I can't afford to fight this but going to have to. Ughh don't know what to do as I'm in KS/MO and can't really run down there.
 
Wait, what? I'm not getting the financial implications, sorry.

I hate to add to your aggravation, but could you explain what exactly they sent you and what they say you're responsible for?
 
Hey, start making calls, and please, make sure you are sweet as sugar! A few childhood friends of mine had out-of-state legal woes that were clearly not theirs, nothing as serious as 4 "unknown" kids, but they managed to talk to the various legal channels, and if needed, start threatening legal action.

Hopefully you wont have to show up, since the runaround that you will get will be like no other! Get ready to seriously spend some quality time with your phone, good luck!
 
My father once got summonsed to the Northern Territory to appear in a paternity case. I once got a cold call at work about an "undeliverable parcel", answered that I was my name, and two afternoon's later, the Sherriff is waiting out the front with a summons to appear in court in QLD for failure to pay rent, and damage to property...I've never been to QLD.

Sherriff explained that they are having major issues with private debt recovery agencies who limit their research to "that name matches", or scattergun the phone directory.
 
Don't feel so bad. For a long period of time several years ago I used to pay the consequences every time a woman with the same last name as mine and a female version of the first name did something. I was not related to her and I have never met her.

She abandoned a car in the county and I received a telephone call in the middle of the night from the sheriff department communications asking me if I was the owner of the car. She went to a musemum which at that time I had not visited and I received a telephone call about how I had liked the musemum. I used to receive her mail-she had some strange address and I had no clue where it was (neither did the mailman) and I had to tell the mailman it was not my mail. It was one thing after another. I was hoping that she would not commit a bank jobbery because I probably would have been shot by the police. Finally it all stopped. I heard stories that she had married and her last name was different.

But that is not the end of it. I used to live in a nearby city and I had a six foot fence all around my back yard and my back yard was very neat. I started to receive letters from the health department that I needed to clean up my back yard. The letters were addressed to a woman (not the same one above) with the same last name as mine. Finally a policeman showed up at my house with paperwork to appear in Muni Court. I told him no woman by that name lived at the house. He asked what my mother's maiden name was and I told him (it was not the same as the woman the letters had been addressed to). So he left.

I don't know what the odds are of something like all of this happening to somebody. I guess I show have bought a lottery ticket.
 
Last edited:
Holy Hannah, that's a major HIPAA violation. Sending records to random people is definitely a major violation. One needs to confirm, fill out a bunch of paperwork authorizing the release (including your signature), and then mail out healthcare-related paperwork.

Hope it goes well. I'd leave them a nasty voicemail, and then consult legal professionals. DSS can be NASTY in how they garnish wages. If they do that, FORGET about collecting the mistakenly garnished wages, as there's no way to do so.
 
I've sold products to multiple Eric Smith's. That's no good on your end, sorry for your hassle.

I remember before HIPPA that a doctor told me that he had a patient (after I told him my college major) that was doing the same thing....he gave me the name of this very famous person and I now realize that that stuff is crazy.
 
I hired an attorney (even though I'm in law school) to write me a cease and desist letter when Budget Rent a car matched my name to some tool what wrecked a truck in a different state umpteen years ago. The age, place,etc.. were all wrong the only thing we had in common was our names in fact at the time of the wreck I was floating around in the Pacfic ocean. Letter cost $50 and after some junk and rude calls from Budget I remedied it by sending them a copy of my drivers lic. they finally stopped calling and sending me $12,000 bills. Later they said that hey just sent letters to everyone they could find with my full name (about 40) and see if anyone pays before they really start digging into who the real person is (a standard practice I've heard). ::Still VERY mad about the whole thing::

EDIT: This is a clear HIPPA violation. Call the State's Attorney and press the issue, somebody should get fired.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Mixologist


If it were me I'd put the records online, you're not the one violating HIPPA, they are so shame them.


Don't hurt the kids because their parents are idiots.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Mixologist


If it were me I'd put the records online, you're not the one violating HIPPA, they are so shame them.


Don't hurt the kids because their parents are idiots.


Oh, I didn't get that from the OPs post (hard to make out) yeah I wouldn't do that to a kids records. Just re-read: I totally read right over the 4 kids part.
 
I started out nice but now I'm ticked.. you could probably tell. There's 2 of us at work so I know there's alot of us around. I work at a hospital so I sorta aware of the HIPAA stuff. I'm going to talk a few people at work and see about filing a complaint. You'd think they'd pull my driver license and could tell that I"m not who they're looking for. Part of me does feel bad because from what I'm seeing looks like something has happened to the mother and now they're looking for the father. The only positive is they haven't dropped them at my door step. I'm afraid they will try to garnish my wages.. you can bet I'll be going down there then. And crownvic4life unless I'm drunk out of my mind and get lost for 20 hours of driving I highly doubt that'll happen.. and I don't drink.
 
Eric, when that gal said 'What happens in South Beach, stays in South Beach', - She lied!
 
Last edited:
So someone in FL is trying to garnish your wages for support because your name matches, without any real identification? Do they have enough info on you to start to do that?

I'd start with the state of FL and KS, filing complaints on both sides. Take those complaints and send them to your payroll department as proof that there is fraudulent activity going on and that they may try to come after you.

Then I'd go on the offensive.
 
It's the FDLE if it's child support issues in Fl.

Good luck on the phone, they'll likely think you're just another dirtbag who doesn't pay his support!

You may need an attorney on this one.
 
Called again today and supposedly they fixed it. Even funnier they seemed to know exactly who I was. Still don't think it's over yet time will tell.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
It's the FDLE if it's child support issues in Fl.


Nope, it's the FL Dept. of Revenue
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top