LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Prosecutors have charged an Arkansas doctor and two former hospital workers with illegally accessing the patient records of a Little Rock television news anchorwoman brought to the hospital after being viciously attacked at her home.

In documents filed this week in U.S. District Court, prosecutors say the three former St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center staff members improperly accessed the records of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly on Oct. 20, the day she was brought in, or the next day. She died Oct. 25, never having regained consciousness.

Hospital emergency room coordinator Candida Griffin, patient account representative Sarah Elizabeth Miller and Dr. Jay Holland, a family doctor who had visitation privileges at the hospital, each face up to a year in prison and $50,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge.

A woman at Holland's office refused to take a message for the doctor Tuesday, saying the clinic had no comment. Griffin did not return a call for comment, and a telephone number for Miller could not be found.

The hospital said in November that it fired up to six people for looking at Pressly's records after a routine patient-privacy audit showed that as many as eight people gained access to them.

Peter Banko, president and CEO of the St. Vincent Health System, said the FBI began investigating the privacy breach in November.

Police have charged Curtis Vance with capital murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Associated Press