Can a patient video tape me?

[MirwinRN]

There was a patient that was claiming none of the nurses were giving her the narcotics she was ordered, even though everyone made an effort to open the medicine in front of her. When I went in the room, she decided to whip out her cell phone and video tape me. It seems like we don't have any rights as nurses but I was wondering if I had to accept this. I hate being on video for any reason.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Good question. We have the same video issues at my facility. While the policy is no video, what do you do once tape is rolling?

[ponymom]

Geez, of course not, and why would you think any different? Has you supervisor been informed of this, and has the resident's family been informed of this? Find out. And do not let anyone make you feel that you 'must' comply or it would 'appease' the resident if you did. You only have the rights you deem important enough to insist on.

[ponymom]

Good question. We have the same video issues at my facility. While the policy is no video, what do you do once tape is rolling?

Step back out of the room.

[brattygrl]

Our hospital has a strict "no videos/pictures" rule. Management backs us up when we politely enforce the rules.

I would see if you can get another nurse to witness you giving her pain meds every time. Also make your boss aware of issue and that you are now having another nurse witness pain med pass with this patient. I'm thinking this patient could really mess with you if she really wanted to. Cover your butt!!!

[MirwinRN]

The reason I'd be unclear is that 1. You can recorded in public without your permission 2. The expectation of privacy is the patient's while in the patient's room and 3. Because even when a nurse is assaulted no one will do anything.

What I did was tell her that I did not want to be recorded and she stopped. But if she hadn't I still couldn't have left the room because she complained that we weren't bringing the medications on time and we're violating her rights. (Although that wasn't the truth) Yes, I had another nurse with me and yes I had multiple conversations with the supervisor that night about what was happening. No one knew the answer to the video tapping as I don't think we have a policy for that purpose.

[kalycat, BSN, RN]

Had a similar issue during my first round of Med/onc clinicals. Obviously I wasn't the main nurse since I'm a student, but my nurse was one of her targets. I ended up not providing care to this patient, but had been until things sort of blew up.

The hospital seemed to take this very seriously and involved leadership, administrators, psych and social work. The patient in question didn't want to be discharged back to a care facility and was secretly audio/video recording staff with her phone trying to prove that her pain wasn't being treated, meds were being diverted, verbal abuse, and negligence. The legal team ended up getting involved and the hospital leadership strongly backed the nurses.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

[brattygrl]

We have actually had security get involved when people are noncompliant with no video/picture policy.

It is not a public place (for profit hospital. Not sure if that makes a difference).

Yes, the patient has an expectation of privacy. But I don't think our policy is based solely on privacy issues. I'm willing to bet it's more of a legal, CYA, policy on the hospital's behalf.

Is your management looking into your policy? Curious to see what their point of view is.

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

There is also the privacy issue. In a multi patient room the second patients privacy is violated by video recording. I work psych and it is easier because the patients may NOT have cell phones. One thing is people forget those cell phones take pictures. A person could take a picture on a psych unit and post it to Facebook in 1 minute. We take privacy of patients VERY seriously. They may say they are filming you..but are they really? There is no way to confirm this. They may say they are taking a picture of themselves, but are actually taking pictures of you for other reasons.

[MirwinRN]

That's the most frustrating part of this, braty. My immediate supervisor supports me and when I asked for a drug test because I was accused she said no that she trusted me. But apparently this video tapping is a new thing because no one knows.

[malestunurse]

. You can recorded in public without your permission

Your facility is not a public place.

[MunoRN, RN]

For the purposes of videotaping and a right to privacy, it's not about location but situation; two people in the same physical location can have two completely difference expectations of privacy. Your right to privacy exists when you can claim a 'reasonable expectation of privacy', which is probably best understand as being a place where you should feel comfortable taking your clothes off. In a patient's hospital room, it's generally acceptable for a patient to, for instance, change their clothes. If the nurse walked into the patient's room and took of their clothes, obviously that wouldn't be generally acceptable.

Legally, yes patients do have a right to videotape their nurse, the nurse does not have an expectation of privacy, despite being in a non-public building. The facility can have rules against videotaping, but it's important to remember how this differs compared to an actual law. Really the only thing the facility can do if someone breaks their rule is to trespass the person, they can't confiscate the camera or phone as that would be theft and potentially assault.