The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws are in place for any number of reasons. Unless you are divulging medical or mental health information about someone else with out their consent, I am uncertain that you are violating any HIPAA laws. Now, that does not preclude you from being accused of slander.
Slander is a tort (a civil wrong) that can be filed in a court setting and monetary damages could be awarded.
Slander is "a type of defamation. Slander is an untruthful oral (spoken) statement about a person that harms the person's reputation or standing in the community. Because slander is a tort (a civil wrong), the injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. If the statement is made via broadcast media -- for example, over the radio or on TV -- it is considered libel, rather than slander, because the statement has the potential to reach a very wide audience." --taken from
Nolo: Law Books, Legal Forms and Legal Software (
slander - legal definition)
Libel is much like slander, but it is usually in writing or broadcasted.
Typically, the "run of the mill" gossip doesn't come close to being slanderous or libelous, but if the person being talked about somehow loses money or experiences a of loss of reputation due in part to the gossip, you may be held accountable to some extent.