Invasion of medical records, hospital privacy on rise

She had jabbed pencils into her eyes to try to kill herself. When the woman was brought to a Los Angeles County emergency room in 2012 alive and in pain, a hospital employee snapped a photograph, breaking a federal patient privacy law. When that photograph appeared on a website that features gory images, the patient’s medical information had been shared publicly, violating a state regulation. Both crimes, which are on the rise, can lead to identity theft or to misuse of information by health insurance companies, experts say.