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SimplyImp
Posts: 1,051
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Nurses Fired Over Cell Phone Photos Of Patient
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.
Do you think two nurses should have been fired for taking a cell phone picture of a patient's X-ray?
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.
http://www.wisn.com/cnn-news/18796315/detail.html
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| Feb 27 @ 8:21 AM |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 4,739
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Richard Gere lives in Lake Geneva? 
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| Feb 27 @ 8:43 AM |
Nurses Took Photos of Stuck Sex Toy
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budo13
Posts: 3,609
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All x-ray depts i ever worked for keep copies of these types of films.Dildo's,cue balls,kitchen utensils,bars of soap,coins, food you name it have been found in the rectum of patients.All of these films have had the name of the patients cut out so they are anonymous.if the name of said patient is on the film and this was broadcast along with the film then definitely it is a HIPPA violation and these nurses should be prosecuted.If the name is absent then there is no violation to the HIPPA policy because it would be anonymous,and no charges brought to these nurses.
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| Feb 27 @ 10:15 AM |
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Nightowl001
Posts: 7,500
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Yep... I agree with Budo, here, completely. As long as the anonynimity of the patient was protected, there is no violation here. Almost all of us who work in the medical field have similar stories of people who have come in with various foreign objects introduced somewhere they weren't wholly intended to be. IF the patient was identified, that was a violation, with not only job-related consequences but legal consequences. But if the patient was NOT identiifed, I'm not clear what justification the hospital used for firing them.
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| Feb 27 @ 10:20 AM |
Nurses Took Photos of Stuck Sex Toy
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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Well, of course they should be fired! But I didn't realize the FBI would have jurisdiction for HIPAA investigations..at least not something like this, anyway. Interesting. Nice to know there are nurses out there that will violate patients' privacy in this way. Takes all kinds, huh?
Edit:
Sans names might not have violated HIPAA, but to take pics and broadcast them on the Internet? That, to me, warrants their being fired. They had no business doing that, IMO.
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| Feb 27 @ 10:23 AM |
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Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
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Lake Geneva is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,148 at the 2000 census. A resort city located on Geneva Lake, it is southwest of Milwaukee, and popular with tourists from metropolitan Chicago and Milwaukee.
The city operates under a mayor-council form of government. The city has recently annexed a large tract that will expand it around the south shore of Geneva Lake.
justification? 
how about..small town where everybody knows everyone else's business??
All of these films have had the name of the patients cut out so they are anonymous.if the name of said patient is on the film and this was broadcast along with the film then definitely it is a HIPPA violation and these nurses should be prosecuted.If the name is absent then there is no violation to the HIPPA policy because it would be anonymous
there are more ways to identify a person in the x-ray than just by name..
and yes.. they deserved to be fired..as it is not within the parameters of their job to be taking personal pictures...
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| Feb 27 @ 10:50 AM |
Nurses Took Photos of Stuck Sex Toy
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budo13
Posts: 3,609
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there are more ways to identify a person in the x-ray then just by name. could i get examples of what you mean by this I'm really curious
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| Feb 27 @ 10:58 AM |
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Loreli
Posts: 25,408
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Maybe you could tell me, Budo (honest question)  -
All over our hospitals here, are signs posted all over saying CELL PHONES MUST BE TURNED OFF.
Why are nurses carrying theirs, when they have a station that could notify them quickly?
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| Feb 27 @ 11:02 AM |
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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Budo, I think it might be enough that the patient might be able to recognize it. "Hey, that's MY ass!" You know? Rather embarrassing. In any case, unless the photos were taken a) with the patient's permission and b) for some medical evaluation purposes and/or to put in their chart for some reason, they had NO business whatsoever taking pics at all, for any reason, whatsoever. I'd not only fire them, I'd do whatever I could to prosecute them for invasion of privacy as well, whether or not it fell strictly under HIPAA violations.
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| Feb 27 @ 11:03 AM |
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Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
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there are more ways to identify a person in the x-ray then just by name
don't play stupid here Budo.. it happened in a small town where word of mouth and gossip runs rampant.. to hide behind blotting out the name ..only works when there are too many people in the pool.. to determine just who's x-ray it is...
case in point is the Richard Gere crack...
was it anyone's business to know that he had that rat....removed..??
but by word of mouth..everyone now knows...
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| Feb 27 @ 11:10 AM |
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Nightowl001
Posts: 7,500
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Budo, I think it might be enough that the patient might be able to recognize it. "Hey, that's MY ass!" You know? Rather embarrassing. Pom, I rarely accuse you of not thinking things through, but they took pictures of an X-RAY. NOT the patient. Absent certain congenital anomalies or surgical procedures that have left striking anatomic changes that they have seen on their own x-rays before, I defy most people to "recognize" an x-ray of any part of themselves. (And this wouldn't have been an x-ray of the patient's "behind." It would have been most likely a AP pelvis view.)
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| Feb 27 @ 11:16 AM |
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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Nor should you start now. I know it was of the XRAY...still...I'd recognize my own xray pics. Perhaps not right away, but I would, and particularly if there was something to bring those pics to my attention (such as a story talking about two nurses which "detailed" the incident in question.)
And I made the quote just to be funny. Duh? Does EVERYTHING have to be ANALyzed to its most literal terms?
Geeeeeeeeeeez!!
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| Feb 27 @ 11:35 AM |
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budo13
Posts: 3,609
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Without comparison films i defy anyone to I.D someone based on one x-ray.If Radiologist cannot do it how can a layman identify a film? Bone and some soft tissue are identifiable I'm willing to bet that most folks could not even point out anatomy on films.
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| Feb 27 @ 11:49 AM |
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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Well, perhaps..but include the silhouette of "Mr. Rocket," and you've narrowed the field, somewhat.
Anyway...moot point. They shouldn't have done it to begin with, whether or not he could be identified from it.
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| Feb 27 @ 11:56 AM |
Nurses Took Photos of Stuck Sex Toy
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budo13
Posts: 3,609
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you are right they should not have done it.Without a P.T.'s I.D it will be very difficult to prove a violation in a court of law.
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| Feb 27 @ 12:03 PM |
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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The violation was the fact they did it to begin with. I don't mean, necessarily, a violation of HIPAA, but a violation of the patient's right to privacy and to be treated with dignity, regardless of whether or not he can be identified.
Having said that, now that the story's out, and apparently the town's a small town, how long do you think it'll be before they DO know who the patient is? If those nurses are so brazen as to take the photo to begin with, who's to say they didn't mention to some other hospital personnel, who then perhaps confided in a "trusted friend," and said trusted friend told a person whom they thought they could trust...etc, etc...you know, stuff like that happens all the time. It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for the patient to eventually be identified and made the laughing stock of the town. Then of course it'd make Internet news and from there...well then "everyone" would know!
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| Feb 27 @ 12:07 PM |
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eastham
Posts: 7,913
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I think I could ID an x-ray of my bionic elbow. 
That said, as GH pointed out this is an incredibly small town. If the nurse had indicated the date and approximate time Madame X (the unknown patient) showed up in the emergency room online, then Madame X's neighbors who watched her being helped into the ambulance would know, anyone with a police/EMS scanner would know, and anyone else in the emergency room when she came in would know it was her.
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| Feb 27 @ 12:10 PM |
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budo13
Posts: 3,609
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pome have you ever worked in a hospital?Everybody knows Everybody's stuff there are rarely secrets.From the attending to the housekeepers everyone knows whats going on and if the town is that small this was bound to leak anyway.
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| Feb 27 @ 12:12 PM |
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pomegranate
Posts: 1,676
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"It was bound to leak anyway" would not be a justifiable defense.
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| Feb 27 @ 12:14 PM |
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Nightowl001
Posts: 7,500
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Anyway...moot point. They shouldn't have done it to begin with, whether or not he could be identified from it. I beg to differ. Absent any identifying information (and Mr. Rocket, most likely being a mass produced product, is hardly identifying), no one has advanced anything other than outraged opinion as to why they shouldn't have. Google "X-rays of foreign objects" and images, and you get over 48,000 search results.
I seriously doubt the hospital employee's handbook (and I've seen a few of these, just not from the hospital in question) has anything in it about no personal photos may be taken while at work. I can find countless Facebook pictures of medical personnel taken of them on the job that no one pitched a fit about. I'm certain a diligent search would yield more than one where a light box with mounted x-rays is in evidence. I've even seen such as "official" photos of hospital employees at work, such as one seen on this page: http://brighamrad.harvard.edu/
Believe it or not, the single largest legal question here, again, absent patient identification, is whether or not the Radiology Department owns a "copyright" on the images in question, because, believe me, the Radiology Department "owns" the pictures, not the patient.
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