Has anyone had a pt's family member take pictures of you during care?

Nurses Relations

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Okay, the weirdest thing happend yesterday at work. (Why do I always get the nuts???) The doctor was examining the pt and the pt's wife was holding up her phone. I thought she was looking at something on the phone, but thought that it was odd the way she was holding it up. After the doctor leaves, I am in the process of settling the pt back down and I hear a click. I looked at the pt's wife and asked if she took a picture? She said yes. I asked if I was in it and she said yes, but that was okay, right? I told her that I didn't like people taking pictures of me at work. She brushed it off and said that I was not doing anything wrong, so it shouldn't be a problem. OOOKKKAAAYYY! I really felt like this was a problem. I don't want my picture plastered on the net or something. Don't we have at least a molecule of a right to privacy regarding our picture being taken or since we work with the public, is that right out the window? Any thoughts?

Specializes in Critical Care.

I agree it's annoying, but allowed where I work as long as there aren't any other patients in the room, family/friends do need consent from the patient but not from staff.

All in all, this is relatively tame, I'm guessing most you haven't had a patient with a "Granny Cam" yet? Or at least one you were aware of anyway.

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it is hipaa (health insurance portability and accountablity act) not hippa.

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/health_insurance_portability_and_accountability_act

here is a link so you may become better informed as you study to someday to become a nurse.

the patient has the right to have their health information private and not of public record. you as their caregiver have an obligation to protect this right. while i believe that families should not be able to take pictures of staff it is not a hipaa violation as you are not the patient nor is your healthcare record at risk.

i personally would discipline any employee of mine who would risk assault a family member and grab their personal items. grabbing and confiscating personal property can also be considered illegal search and seizure (as protected by the consittution). this can be prosecuted by the family as assault and battery as well as theft and crminal charges can be filed. i would expect my employee to immediately tell the family that this is against hospital policy to take photos without written consent from the hospital (policy at my facility) as this is private hospital property and consent would be have to be obtained by the patient also (now that's hipaa) i ask that the bedside phone be used to have the operator page me or the supervisor to go to the room and address the issue with the family member immediately to come to a immediate solution and request the picture be deleted as a protection to the employee's privacy.

unfortunately, technology has surpassed the written rules by a long shot and i believe will eventually catch up in time. there has been no precedent set and there will probably have to be a lawsuit filed to settle this issue amongst privacy advocates and public forums. the fact is as a cna and when you become a nurse. your registration in your state reveals your personal information as you are state registered and your personal information is public. anyone can access your personel information off the websites of your board of registration because your is public record.

i personally believe it is intrusive and an invasion of privacy to take my picture without my permission but that doesn't mean i can actually stop someone when i am in "public". i believe the jury is still out on this one and we will have to wait and see..........but you can't grab someones personal belongings without ramifications.

sorry, but i am not in "public" in a pt. room wiping their butt. hospital rooms are a bit different than lax.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Sorry, but I am not in "public" in a pt. room wiping their butt. Hospital rooms are a bit different than LAX.

I totally agree but in terms of privacy laws you might as well be in public. There are legal restrictions on the use of audio since that falls under wiretapping laws. In general you, privacy laws only prevent your picture from being taken when you have "a reasonable expectation of privacy". The established definition for this includes places such as bathrooms, dressing rooms, hotel rooms, tanning salons; in other words any place where the subject of the photo should feel comfortable getting naked. This does include a patient in the hospital or a resident of an LTC in their room, but a nurse wiping somebody's butt wouldn't be protected, only the person to whom the butt in question belongs.

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I just think this HAS to be wrong. A hotel lobby is one thing, a suite in said hotel is clearly another. A hospital room has basic expectations of privacy, the same as a hotel room would. I really think you are reading this all wrong.

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Specializes in insanity control.

If I see a camera or a cell phone in the room when I am providing care, I politely remind the owner that I do not like having my picture taken and if they do not to get my face. Many seem shocked that I would object to having my picture taken. Once I state that, they seem to understand. If they question me, I just say that if I don't allow my husband to take pictures on the fly, why would I let strangers. Most laugh it off, some seem offended that I would object to being in a photo with grandma, or whatever. I am a private person, I don't get in a lot of family pictures. I don't want uncontrolled picts to show up on facebook or my space. I have that right and have asked for pictures of me to be deleted in front of me. I do take into considerstion who is the focus of the picture. I mean if I am giving a baby a bath, then the focus is on the baby. I just happen to be there. I don't object to this. It is just the face on pictures that I object to.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I had a husband try to take a picture of his wife's recently amputated knee while I was changing the dressing. He was being such an idiot. I defended her because I sad how stressed her face looked and he didn't end up taking it.

Seriously? yes.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
If I see a camera or a cell phone in the room when I am providing care, I politely remind the owner that I do not like having my picture taken and if they do not to get my face. Many seem shocked that I would object to having my picture taken. Once I state that, they seem to understand. If they question me, I just say that if I don't allow my husband to take pictures on the fly, why would I let strangers. Most laugh it off, some seem offended that I would object to being in a photo with grandma, or whatever. I am a private person, I don't get in a lot of family pictures. I don't want uncontrolled picts to show up on facebook or my space. I have that right and have asked for pictures of me to be deleted in front of me. I do take into considerstion who is the focus of the picture. I mean if I am giving a baby a bath, then the focus is on the baby. I just happen to be there. I don't object to this. It is just the face on pictures that I object to.

Yeah, I think grandparents got a lot of pics of me while I was bathing and weighing their newborns in clinicals this semester. I even held the babies up for them to take pictures, but I am pretty sure most pics were just of the baby. Just in case, I looked at the baby and not the camera most of the time, so at least it's just a side shot.

I would just be concerned about what else was in the picture with you when you're in a patient's room, like a bedpan, decub ulcers, naked bums, etc. If they wanted to create a problem with pics like that, they could.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
sorry, but i am not in "public" in a pt. room wiping their butt. hospital rooms are a bit different than lax.

privacy:

http://www.hhs.gov/foia/privacy/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/privacy_act_of_1974

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm

right......you are in a "patients room" not your room. they can photograph their room if they so wish,technically,whether you are there or not. i am not saying i agree.....i am saying hipaa has to do with the protection of health information and care of the patient not you. i agree it is intrusive but as of right now there are no laws to protect nurses privacy in the work place. hospitals don't like it because of liability/lawsuit reasons with no thought to the nurses invasion of space or privacy.

"i am at work, and not in public. therefore, i am shielded by privacy laws. anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a big fat judgement."sdf i agree it is going to take a law suit of two to have the rules and laws catch up with technology. but if the patient agrees to the picture in their room it is allowed whether you are there or not.

"i was given to believe that hipaa violations extend to the pt.s themselves, so that a family member could not take photos of their dying, intubated mother without her express permission. "sdf if the health care proxy is signed then the proxy can do whatever they wish........like gary colemans wife/ex-wife did. the expectation of privacy is for the patient as they are in the position of exposure and vulnerability not you and that is why it is called the patients room "

a hospital room has basic expectations of privacy, the same as a hotel room would."sdf yes, the patients "hotel room" not yours.......so if the patient takes the picture you just happen to be there.....completely legal.......by the laws that are present today. just like if you are at a party at someones house and someone else takes a picture in the general "party area" or "public space" and they post it on you tube or facebook.......it is legal. the expectation of "privacy" is not there and you are in a "public gathering place" therefore giving "implied consent" that's is how micheal phelps and miley cyrus got caught smoking a bong and didn't/couldn't sue for invasion of their privacy! the implied consent of a public gathering....fair? no....legal? yes.

aagain, the truth stinks......and i believe eventually the laws will change to control technology. but before cell phones i would have never!!!!!! considered picking up a camera and take a picture of a patient let alone publish it in the newspaper! yet, still......nurses and caregivers are still being fired for this very act and new rules needed to be adopted to conform to todys issues. :twocents::twocents:

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I just think this HAS to be wrong. A hotel lobby is one thing, a suite in said hotel is clearly another. A hospital room has basic expectations of privacy, the same as a hotel room would. I really think you are reading this all wrong.

A hospital room does provide an expectation of privacy but for the patient, not for the nurse. One way to think of it is that a Hospital room affords the patient a level of privacy where they should feel comfortable getting naked, even while you are in there, if the same level of privacy applied to you while in the patient's room, then you should feel comfortable also getting naked, which I'm guessing you don't.

If the level of legally protected privacy was defined solely by the location and not by the person in relation to the location, then surveillance cameras would be legal in patient rooms in nursing homes, (they are legal in my state).

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Specializes in Operating Room.
I had a husband try to take a picture of his wife's recently amputated knee while I was changing the dressing. He was being such an idiot. I defended her because I sad how stressed her face looked and he didn't end up taking it.

Seriously? yes.

This is sad on so many levels.:crying2::down:. What a jerk! This poor woman is in pain, going through a physical and emotional loss, and this d- bag husband is taking pictures? Wow.

Good for you for saying something.

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Could this be considered a hippa violation? If nurses taking pic's of patients is a violation it's only right that patients and family members have that regulation too.

Personally, i would have taken the cell phone gone to my manager and shown her (and said it was without consent) then deleted it.

Yes, theft is great way to respond to an invasion of your privacy!:eek:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I had a pt's sister take my picture once, but this lady (and her sister) were nuts. Pt also handed me a scrap of paper with her email address on it so I could find her on FB and be her friend (NO, I did not.......I tossed the address). I put up enough of a fuss until she got rid of it. I HATE having my picture taken.

I don't know that there are rules against it, etc, but I'd keep fighting. It's about respect if NOTHING else. I think the ONLY types of vids or pics I'd consent to are of things like dressing changes, if a family member will be doing them at home....it can be the best way for them to remember the steps. Other than that, GET THAT CAMERA OFF OF ME.

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