Did Ezekiel Elliott’s HIPAA rights get violated with COVID-19 reveal?

Ezekiel Elliott tested positive for COVID-19, but how that information came to light is under question.

There’s no questioning the fact that Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has tested positive for coronavirus. On Monday, Elliott was one of a handful of Cowboys and Texans players to test positive for the virus outside of team facilities, and the running back was the only one officially name dropped as the news broke.

In the hours after the information became public, however, Elliott spoke out on Twitter about the source of the information, stating that his HIPAA rights may have been violated as his agent wasn’t the one who broke the news.

Ezekiel Elliott may have had his HIPAA rights violated with COVID reveal

What started out with a funny, out of context tweet about HIPAA rights turned into an interesting few tweets from Elliott. On Twitter, Elliott states that it wasn’t his agent Rocky Arceneaux who broke the story to the media, he only just confirmed the story that was already being written about his coronavirus diagnosis.

Originally, before context was added, Elliott was wrong about his agent being in violation of HIPAA — the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that protects patients medical records — since his agent is not a medical professional, and the act only applies to healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses.

However, with this new twist that Elliott’s agent did not originally break this story as it was believed, it’s very possible a HIPAA violation did occur, depending on who spoke first about it all. It’s hard to say the course of action that would follow, should someone actually have broken HIPAA to speak on Elliott’s diagnosis, but one could face fines up to $250,000 or even jail time up to 10 years, if the violation was done under malicious intent or for personal gain.

Regardless, it’s clear Elliott is frustrated that his positive coronavirus test leaked to the media in such a manner.