Breach of my confidentiality by unknown nurse-advice PLEASE!

[jackson]

I had a medical procedure done last month. I'm kinda private about myself so I didn't tell my closely-knit cul-de-sac neighbors. My husband told me tonight that our neighbor asked how I was doing after my procedure because a nurse we both know had asked him. I asked my husband why he didn't ask our neighbor the name of the nurse and he said he had the impression that our neighbor didn't want to tell him. But maybe he misinterpreted the impression our neighbor was giving. I can't think of what nurse knows myself and our neighbor.

Anyways, I'm reallly mad!!!! I don't mind our neighbor knowing (cause I did tell one neighbor and I should have known nothing is private in our cul-de-sac), but I'm upset that a nurse would breach this confidentiality. She also told our neighbor what procedure I had done! What would you do?

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Surprised everyone has jumped on the bait.

We know very little of what's truly happened, yet we've so quickly reached all kinds of conclusions. Can we get all the facts before leaping to an end result?

Please step back. Lots of possibilties here.

[Sheri257]

Assuming it is a HIPAA violation, you could also sue for damages. In our training at school, they cited cases where damages were awarded for HIPAA violations.

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

I mean how could my husband be the culprit? The neighbor came to him and asked him, then he told me about it tonight!

Meaning that you said he did tell one neighbor, and you know how nosy some neighbors can be, maybe it was from that original source, and someone else mentioned it may be easier to blame the nameless nurse for the breech of info.

Not to disrespect you or your husband. Just meant I kind of agreed with the other person who suggested this scenario, that your hubby told one person, who blabbed to everyone else. But, you know your neighbors better than I do. I can see it happening in my neighborhood though. I don't have to pay attention to what is happening, because I know there are at least 2 people who will call me and inform me of who is in the hospital and why. And more than that!

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

Surprised everyone has jumped on the bait.

We know very little of what's truly happened, yet we've so quickly reached all kinds of conclusions. Can we get all the facts before leaping to an end result?

Please step back. Lots of possibilties here.

I thought that was what we were discussing??

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

It seems to me that the op is blaming a nameless, faceless nurse.You could report it, but what are you reporting? Heresay? Against who? The nurse your neighbor knows but won't tell me who?

For all you know it could have been the janitor's brother's wife that saw you leaving the hospital.

[bam_bam]

I don't think we are jumping to conclusions. She already said in the OP that the neighbor said that it was a nurse who asked about her. Not the wife of a janitor.

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

Exactly. He said she said they heard. Did the op hear the neighor ask? No. What nurse where? Who knows.

[begalli]

Something similar (along privacy lines) happened to my daughter.

She needed a biopsy of a bump on her thyroid.

The radiology RN was her ex-boyfriend's mother.

Couple of days after the procedure, lo-and-behold, the ex-boyfriend who hasn't been around for at least 3 years calls my daugher. Asked how's she's doing after the procedure!?!

He's been annoyingly hanging around ever since and this was in March (not to mention his presence has messed up a really good thing my daughter had with another really great guy).

I can't stand this ex-boyfriend. My daughter's a bit more blind, he was after all, her "first love" (she's 26 now).

Pretty blatant violation of privacy if you ask me. :angryfire

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

A point:

It is hearsay that a "nurse" was the source.

Given the public perception of "nurses", perpetuated by management that has every staffer wear scrubs in the hospital, it might be a phlebotomist, a radiation tech, a respiratory tech, physical therapist, unit secretary, dietician, EKG tech, etc. that could have been the source.

I recently was the victim of a HIPAA violation that damaged me financially to the tune of several thousand dollars as well as untold amounts of stress. At no point was a nurse involved, however, it involved Rad MDs, some secretaries, OH MDs, phlebotomy, the personnel department of the involved hospital, and my Nursing agency.

If the OP is from a close knit community, the best solution is to have health care from someone outside that community. Coming from a small town, as well as my recent experience has led me to have all care rendered from a hospital that I do not work at and an MD that is not of my community.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

My internist has a new office building. I noticed that he doesn't close his door when dictating. Before I could tell him, I heard several medical facts about other patients. He was mortified when I told him. I didn't bother to guess who the patients were because I live out of town, but I could have if I tried.

I agree that it is a privacy violation, but you'll have to go to the source and track it down. I too doubt that it was a "nurse." But sometimes people can fool us.

[CHATSDALE]

i know it isn't ethical but the plain fact is that medical personnel run the same gamut as the rest of the world...some wouldn't share confindential info under any curcumstances...and some others can't wait to get on phone/email and blab blab blab i really hate it when somebody tells be something that i really wouldn't want to knw

[ldkrn]

It would be a lot of energy expended to try and find out who this faceless nurse may be, if in fact it was a nurse or other healthcare professional at all, and what actually was said about you to your neighbor. As you mentioned, you weren't surprised that the information made it's way around your neighborhood since you yourself told a neighbor and we all know that a secret can be shared by two people only if one of them is dead. You could contact the manager of where you had your procedure done, I suppose, and have him or her give you the name of every possible employee who might have had access to that information, or put your neighbor in a very awkward position by grilling him about who told him what when...it's up to you how much time and energy you want to spend on this. Good luck whatever you decide to do.