Dozens of staff members at Woodhull Medical Center are facing suspensions in the handling of a high-profile child abuse case.

City officials say 39 staff members, including doctors, nurses, clerks and technicians, accessed the files of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown. Brown was brought to the hospital by caseworkers in December and died after she was suspected of being beaten and starved by her stepfather and mother. The New York Times reports that most of the staffers who viewed the files did not have a legitimate reason to do so. The hospital has a device in its computer system that shows who accessed a particular file.

The city?s Health and Hospital Corporation says the staffers will be suspended for up to two months. Because Brown was already dead, it is not clear if doctors or nurses who viewed her files broke any state or federal privacy laws.

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