St Sophia Health & Rehab: Patient Privacy Breach - MO
Two weeks later, the family member still had the documents. Federal inspectors were still asking about them on New Year's Eve.
The incident happened on December 17, according to the family member of a resident identified in inspection records as Resident 10. A nurse approached and handed over an after-visit summary. It wasn't for their family member. It belonged to Resident 23, another person living in the 159-bed Florissant facility, and it contained information that medical privacy law is built to protect: the resident's full name, date of birth, medical record number, referrals for an MRI of the spine and for a pain clinic, and the results of an x-ray taken during the visit.
The family member told the nurse immediately. The nurse's response, as the family member recounted it to inspectors on December 31, was that she did not care and did not want the paperwork back, and the family member could do whatever he or she wanted with it.
So the family member kept it.
When inspectors reviewed Resident 23's own medical file, they found no after-visit summary from December that matched the document the family member had been holding for two weeks. The copy that should have been in Resident 23's chart wasn't there. The copy that should never have left the facility was sitting with someone who had no right to it.
The administrator and the Director of Nursing, interviewed together on the afternoon of December 31, told inspectors that only residents, their legal guardians, and their designated powers of attorney should ever have access to a resident's medical record. The administrator said that if staff accidentally gave someone's records to the wrong person, she would expect them to retrieve the paperwork immediately, then notify the facility's legal team and the affected resident's family.
That is not what happened on December 17.
The nurse who handed over the documents did not take them back. There is no indication in the inspection report that anyone at St Sophia contacted Resident 23's family before inspectors arrived. The record the family member of Resident 10 handed to surveyors was the first page of what appeared to be a multi-page document. The rest of it was not provided, and the full scope of what was disclosed is not known.
A sign posted at the front entrance of the facility, under the heading "Know Your Rights," lists confidentiality as a resident right. Medical, personal, social, and financial affairs, the posting says, should be considered privileged information.
On December 17, a nurse handed Resident 23's privileged information to a stranger, said she didn't care about the error, and walked away.
Federal inspectors classified the violation as causing minimal harm, the lowest level on the harm scale used in nursing home enforcement. What that classification doesn't capture is what Resident 23 still doesn't know: that a neighbor's family member spent the final two weeks of 2025 in possession of their name, their birthdate, their medical record number, and the details of a spine that needed imaging and pain management that doctors thought was serious enough to refer out.
The family member told inspectors they would provide a copy of the documents to the survey team. Whether Resident 23 or their family has been told any of this is not reflected in the inspection report.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for St Sophia Health & Rehabilitation Center from 2025-12-31 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: November 3, 2026 · Our methodology
ST SOPHIA HEALTH & REHABILITATION CENTER in FLORISSANT, MO was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 31, 2025.
Two weeks later, the family member still had the documents.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.