Re: HIPAA Violation

[Guest guest]

Well, except for the purient nature of these pictures, what was actually wrong

here?

If the pictures had been of a really cool fracture, and they had been released

on some website with absoloutely no patient identifiers, wouldn't we all have

just said, 'Wow, now that's a fracture!'

All of medical education, including the informal kind we all engage in, must

eventually get back to some health information gained from someone, and the vast

majority without their knowledge or consent. What makes it not a violation of

privacy is that we don't know who it is. The patient is not identifiable.

If one is taking a class and the Paramedic in charge is telling 'war stories' to

illustrate some point in the textbook, do we scream 'hipaa'? Unless he says it

was Mrs of 412 Main street.

Re: HIPAA Violation

Sent by: texasems-l

Crass and tasteless, yes.

But unless the patient could easily be identified by the x-ray and the

discussion, I fail to see the HIPAA violation.

Bledsoe, DO wrote:

>

> Case Referred To FBI For Possible HIPAA Violations

>

> LAKE GENEVA, Wis. -- Nurses accused of photographing a patient and posting

> the pictures on the Internet have been fired.

>

> The investigation started with an anonymous call from an employee at Mercy

> Walworth Medical Center in Lake Geneva, with the allegation that a nurse

> took pictures of a patient with her cell phone and posted them on her

> Facebook page.

>

> Last week, the nurse told 12 News she never posted the pictures on the

> Internet. Investigators have since interviewed the nurse and said she

> offered more details.

>

> " There were two nurses that independently took a picture each of an

> X-ray of

> a patient, " Walworth County Undersheriff Kurt Picknell said.

>

> The patient was admitted to the emergency room with an object lodged

> in his

> rectum. Police said the nurse explained she and a co-worker snapped photos

> when they learned it was a sex device. Police said discussion about the

> incident was posted on her Facebook page, but they haven't found

> anyone who

> actually saw the pictures.

>

> The nurse removed her Facebook page from the Internet last week. Without

> more, Picknell said this conduct does not appear to violate any state

> laws.

> He has referred the case to the FBI.

>

> " We've notified federal authorities of this allegation to see if there are

> federal violations, most notably HIPAA violations, patient rights, " he

> said.

>

> The hospital did not return a call seeking comment.

>

>

--

Grayson

www.kellygrayson.com