Did you completely miss the point? What the fuck is even happening in this comment tree I can't believe you think you 'hit a nerve' hahaha. Yes it would hit most people's nerves to allow any random person access to medical history. We're not talking about letting people (even strangers if we're being pedantic) 'see their loved ones' we're discussing strangers potentially making life changing medical decisions by being given access to OPs medical files beyond this incident without any due diligence as to who you're giving it to. That's shoddy as fuck and not acceptable. In this instance it seems they fucked up and assumed someone who brought OP in was telling the truth - even they would not be sitting here going 'we did nothing wrong!!' medical professionals care about confidentiality and care about safeguards around it. Sometimes things do go wrong but OP is well, well within her rights to cause a ruckus.

Why do you think HIPAA exists or there are laws around it if it's no biggie if the hospital throws your medical info around as they please.