Staff suspended for Clooney files

More than two dozen hospital staffers have been suspended for four weeks after allegedly peeking at George Clooney’s confidential medical information after he was hurt in a motorcycle accident last month.

Clooney, 46, suffered a broken rib and scrapes in the Sept. 21 crash, while his passenger, Sarah Larson, 28, injured her foot. Both were treated at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, N.J.

No physicians employed by the hospital were among the 27 employees suspended, Eurice Rojas, the hospital’s vice president of external affairs, said Wednesday.

The investigation was initiated after an audit revealed that employees had looked at the records without authorization, Rojas said. The suspensions began last week and continued this week, he said.

Clooney issued a statement saying that, “while I very much believe in a patient’s right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers.”