I wouldn't mind seeing a few class action law suits filed against cities & states over the failure to test rape kits.

I'm with you there!

The privacy of students who get care at university clinics is in doubt after the mental health records of a woman who says she was raped at the University of Oregon were used by the school in the course of defending itself against a lawsuit.

NPR

OMG, I would never have thought that would be legal.

And if it is legal, then it brings up an important issue for not just universities, but for anyone employed in hospitals and treatment facilities who then goes to those same facilities for care. I can imagine a lot of situations where an employee's medical records could be used against those employees. 

Ii wouldn't have thought it was legal either, but it does appear to be. Pretty chilling, isn't it? 

So when I work for a hospital that requires that I use that hospital for insurance reimbursement (as most hospitals do require of their employees), my employer can use my medical records against me in a lawsuit to defend itself. Very chilling!

Don't nurses have a union that should be looking out for this sort of thing?

There are nursing unions in a few places, such as some in CA and MN. But the vast numbers of nurses do not have a nursing union. I don't know the actual percentage of nurses that do, but I would guess it's less than 1%. I know I've never been covered by a union, although I have been lucky enough to work in unionized hospitals so I got some of the benefits anyway. The benefits I got were in line of having reasonable patient ratios, lift teams for heavy patients and mandatory breaks. In places without unions we can pretty well guess that we won't get a break for 12 hours many days and we are not allowed to claim no break so we get paid for it. It's illegal, but when there is no one to fight for you they get away with it.