Are nurses allowed to turn in wanted criminals?

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I'm always seeing wanted people on Facebook. If I recognized one who came into my ER, would I be allowed to turn him/her in?

Specializes in Critical Care.
Nurses who harbor criminals, regardless of the location, are just as guilty as the criminals themselves, as would be any other individual.

We do not silently aid-and-abet (spelling?) wanted criminals by turning a blind eye. If it is determined that one of our patients is wanted by the law, anyone can make an anonymous phone call to the proper authorities...which is what I would do. This is told to each of us during the onboarding process in employment.

If it is discovered after the patient has been admitted, notify the manager, who should notify the hospital's security/police department, who should and probably will inform local authorities. The patient care continues, but probably under a (literally) guarded situation until discharge.

If this is discovered on a day off and we know the patient's (criminal's) location, again, anonymous phone call, phone call to the hospital's security department, and/or call to the supervisor. We have an obligation of safety to all individuals who enter our doors: colleagues, patients, and visitors.

We are far too busy with sick people. Word is already out that known drug addicts can come to us with subjective complaints and get their quick-fix. We do not want to be known as a safe haven for basic and/or hardened criminals.

Just my opinion...

That's actually a pretty clear HIPAA violation as it doesn't abide by the notification of law enforcement requirements, and no, treating someone accused of a crime is not aiding and abetting. Aside from the legal definitions of what exactly is required to notify law enforcement of a patient being in your facility, it's also unethical.

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

Many national and state hospital associations have model guides or policies on this issue. For example, here is Washington's: http://www.wsha.org/wp-content/uploads/HIPAA-Guide-2015-update-FINAL-zes-tb-edits_DKAcceptions.pdf and here are the guidelines from the AHA: http://www.aha.org/content/00-10/guidelinesreleasinginfo.pdf

Most of these guidelines follow the HIPAA requirements, which are protective of PHI. Generally speaking, I would only allow nursing staff to notify law enforcement of a fugitive if the nurse has a reasonable belief that doing so will prevent or minimize an imminent danger to the patient or any other individual. I would want to see that reasonable belief articulated in the chart and to have the nurse check with me, Compliance, Privacy or nursing leadership first.

As for the OP, most hospitals do already have a policy on this: it is typically written and administered by Medical Records, Compliance, Privacy or Risk.

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Nurses who harbor criminals, regardless of the location, are just as guilty as the criminals themselves, as would be any other individual.

We do not silently aid-and-abet (spelling?) wanted criminals by turning a blind eye. If it is determined that one of our patients is wanted by the law, anyone can make an anonymous phone call to the proper authorities...which is what I would do. This is told to each of us during the onboarding process in employment.

If it is discovered after the patient has been admitted, notify the manager, who should notify the hospital's security/police department, who should and probably will inform local authorities. The patient care continues, but probably under a (literally) guarded situation until discharge.

If this is discovered on a day off and we know the patient's (criminal's) location, again, anonymous phone call, phone call to the hospital's security department, and/or call to the supervisor. We have an obligation of safety to all individuals who enter our doors: colleagues, patients, and visitors.

We are far too busy with sick people. Word is already out that known drug addicts can come to us with subjective complaints and get their quick-fix. We do not want to be known as a safe haven for basic and/or hardened criminals.

Just my opinion...

Thats a dramatic stretch. Treating someones asthma attack in my ER does not make me complicit in the murder they committed. I am not law enforcement.

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Specializes in Float Pool - A Little Bit of Everything.
Sure you could. Just make an anonymous phone call ;)

My answer too. I feel as though I have an ethical obligation to protect public safety, a wanted criminal is a threat to public safety.

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I agree with making an anonymous phone call. I don't see that's any different than if I were a patient in your ER waiting room who noticed someone's wanted face also in the waiting room, I'd definitely be sending an anonymous phone call.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
Recently in my city, it came out that a suspected murderer now on trial was seen in the ER I used to work in. The nurse that cared for him later reported to the police that the patient told her he killed someone. At the time it was also found he was high on drugs, although I don't know what drugs were found in his system. To me, anything a patient says under the influence of drugs or alcohol should not be reported to the police, because it will definitely be used against them in court. I don't know if HIPAA will cover my ass, or what hospital policy is regarding this matter. But if a patient is under the influence of some mind altering substance and says they committed a crime, it's my own personal policy that I won't say anything or make a note in the chart.

Now if I find out if a patient I have is on the most wanted list, I really don't know what I'd do. Depends on my mood I guess. If the patient treats me and others like dirt, I might be angry enough to search the most wanted list. But I've not done that, even though I've had plenty of obnoxious patients. It's never occurred to me to deliberately look at the most wanted list.

Sorry, but this has struck such a deep chord. Wow, you really wouldn't keep the public safe? What if that person killed after you saw them, have you no conscience? WOW, JUST WOW.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Sorry, but this has struck such a deep chord. Wow, you really wouldn't keep the public safe? What if that person killed after you saw them, have you no conscience? WOW, JUST WOW.

I was struck by "depends on my mood". This is a grey area for nurses, certainly worthy of discussion. But regardless of what course of action I chose, it wouldn't be based on what kind of mood I was in.

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So this exact scenario just happened to me recently. Saw a former patient of mines "wanted" picture on the local police departments facebook page, he happened to get readmitted the next day after I saw it. I asked my manager what to do and she said we had no policy on it but that we want our patients to feel safe coming to the hospital, but if an "anonymous tip" were put in, then there's nothing they can do about that.

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Wow!! I don't understand that kind of logic! I personally believe that we are obligated to report if someone has admitted to committing a crime. I couldn't live with myself if that person went out and did the same...or worse and I hadn't said something. To not report someone who I knew was wanted is criminal!

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

What about just making an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers.. So and so was seen walking into the Podunk ER at 8pm, and seen walking out at 10pm...?

Edit: I see that has been suggested already. Seems very logical.

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Sorry, but this has struck such a deep chord. Wow, you really wouldn't keep the public safe? What if that person killed after you saw them, have you no conscience? WOW, JUST WOW.

That is a different case altogether. If I saw them commit murder, then I would alert authorities.

Anyone who admits to doing something while they are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol is bound to create a legal sticky situation for me. What if their lawyer finds out I charted a note about the patient admitting to committing a crime, and that I went to the police afterwards. That's what that nurse did. They can argue their client was not in their right mind, and that I violated their privacy. Plus, I have taken care of plenty of people not in their right minds, most recently having worked in the PACU. People say stupid crap when they are under the influence of some mind-altering substance.

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Specializes in Psych.
I work as a clinical nursing manager in a 28 day behavioral health/drug treatment program. As you can imagine, a large portion of our patients come in with pending charges, previous convictions, etc. And although we ask during admission pre-screen in they have any outstanding warrants or pending charges, it's not uncommon for them to fib and end up admitted with active warrants. We do not turn our patients in. We've had situations where police are

tipped off by a member of the public as to their location, and the sheriff will call and ask if we have that patient. In that case, we do tell them if that person is in our facility. I would think this is something, especially in an ER, that is has a clearly spelled out policy written on how to address. You should check with your supervisor or P&P's for your individual facility for guidance.

I wonder if this policy varies...at a behavioural facility where I worked, if police or parole officers called wanting to know if a parolee was there, we told them that we could not confirm or deny. We were told it was definitely a privacy violation.

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