HIPAA--Mixed up discharge papers

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  1. This is a discussion on HIPAA--Mixed up discharge papers in HIPAA and Nursing Challenges, part of General Nursing ... My husband was recently discharged from the hospital following a surgical procedure. I was looking...

    by May 13, '10
    My husband was recently discharged from the hospital following a surgical procedure. I was looking over his discharge papers (after he got home) and realized that he had accidentally been given someone else's discharge papers.

    His own papers were there, but the other guy's were somehow mixed in with them. Now I wonder whose papers the other guy has and what other mixups may have happened in this hospital.

    Would you suggest letting the hospital know about the mixup? Or just quietly shredding those papers and forgetting about them?
    Last edit by Jeanette73 on May 13, '10
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    by Jeanette73 May 13, '10 7:47 pm
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  3. 21 Comments so far...

  4. May 13, '10 by
    Put a note with them and mail them back, to the Admissions/Discharge Dept. or just shred them. Most people wouldn't even bother to shred them.
  5. May 13, '10 by
    I'd shred them and move on.
  6. May 13, '10 by
    I would also shred and move on...
  7. May 13, '10 by
    I'd be pretty upset with a hospital that let MY papers go floating around to who-knows-where (and who-knows-whom).
    Meriwhen and scoochy like this.
  8. May 13, '10 by
    Shred it and Forget it
    nola1202 likes this.
  9. May 14, '10 by
    I would shred them and notify the hospital so they are aware. If they are aware of the error, maybe this will give them an opportunity to improve on something.
  10. May 14, '10 by
    I'd call / bring them back ....
    xtxrn likes this.
  11. Asst. Admin
    May 14, '10 by
    Quote from ChayaN
    Would you suggest letting the hospital know about the mixup? Or just quietly shredding those papers and forgetting about them?
    Let them know so they can fix the problem for the future.
    xtxrn, BluegrassRN, nursel56, and 3 others like this.
  12. May 14, '10 by
    Shred and forget it. Everyone makes mistakes and I don't really think it will be productive to force the issue.

    If you were the nurse doing a million things at once and you inadvertently had this happen wouldn't you hope the other person would just quit reading and shred them?

    No matter how many reminders happen perfection is not attainable! So why cause some poor nurse to have her feet held over the flames by admin?

    Do you never make mistakes?

    If it was a "teachable" moment, and by that i mean a serious mistake or someone repeating a mistake over and over then it would need to be addressed and that is a different situation.

    I would give the person a break and hope that karma would riccochet.......
    NurseSDP, WANT2BANURSESOON, NightNurseRN, and 2 others like this.