Just wanted to see what the HIPPA vibe around here is on this issue...violation or not?
A friend of mine went into the hospital last week for an emergency injury. He went in late at night, so I called the next morning to see if I could leave him a voicemail, as he was scheduled for surgery that morning. (we'll call him Ben Smith)
The following conversations ensure:
I call the front desk.
They ask for the patient last name.
Me: "Smith"
Them: "Ben?"
Me: "Yes"
They transfer me to his floors nurses' station. The nurse asks if I would like to talk to him.
Me: "Oh, I thought he was in surgery right now"
Her: "Well, he's going to have to be transferred to another hospital before they can do that"
Me: "Oh, uh, ok"
Her: "Can I tell him who's calling?"
I give her my name and get to talk to him.
Something about all that just didn't seem quite HIPPA friendly. What if he had hated me or didn't want me to know he was there? He wasn't even the one who told me about his going into the hospital...it was another friend.
This guy was my friend...so he was happy to hear from me..and didn't care that i knew he was in the hospital... I'm just thinking if the hospital keeps this up, they're gonna get in trouble eventually...
