Does HIPAA apply to non-work related information (from friends and relatives)???

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I was discussing this with someone. My question is, does HIPAA also legally forbid us from discussing something that a member of the public, say a neighbor, friend, or family member, confides in us because we are a nurse? I'm not saying I would blab, because I wouldn't, I'm just asking about the law. If anyone has a link to supporting documentation backing your opinion, that is written in plain English, I'd be most appreciative.

Does HIPAA forbid us from gossiping about something that a friend or neighbor confides in us merely because of our medical background, even though they aren't officially 'our' patient.

[catlynLPN]

I was discussing this with someone. My question is, does HIPAA also legally forbid us from discussing something that a member of the public, say a neighbor, friend, or family member, confides in us because we are a nurse? I'm not saying I would blab, because I wouldn't, I'm just asking about the law. If anyone has a link to supporting documentation backing your opinion, that is written in plain English, I'd be most appreciative.

Does HIPAA forbid us from gossiping about something that a friend or neighbor confides in us merely because of our medical background, even though they aren't officially 'our' patient.

Well, in my opinion, and from what I've been led to understand this law is designed to protect "patients" medical information.

Like where you work and are getting paid to take care of patients and therefore protect their information, who that information is given to and who sees that information.

Like that incident where all the staff looked at George Clooney's medical records........wrong!!! They KNEW better. Their curiosity just got the best of them and they risked it.

I don't think that someone could sue you if they had confided in you and you gave that information to someone else, but I wouldn't think any nurse with half a brain on her shoulders would spread something that had been told to her/him in confidence. Altho, I suppose we do have some nurses who would be that dense.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

The scenario we were discussing involved a young woman who had confided in a nurse friend about an abortion. The nurse friend was against abortion and had been wracked with guilt for having this information, so she ended up blabbing to the young woman's mother. I thought she was just guilty of having a big mouth and poor judgement, the other person thought she violated HIPAA

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

You can only violate HIPAA if it is your patient. If the woman was your friends patient/ this happened at a facility where she worked and then she told the mother then yes she violated HIPAA. Since the woman told her something in confidence that the friend broke then she just has a big mouth like you said and probably will never be trusted with another secret again.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

You can only violate HIPAA if it is your patient. If the woman was your friends patient/ this happened at a facility where she worked and then she told the mother then yes she violated HIPAA. Since the woman told her something in confidence that the friend broke then she just has a big mouth like you said and probably will never be trusted with another secret again.

That's what I thought. I don't really consider that I have the same legal level of obligation to someone whose care isn't assigned to me as my patient. In the case of the abortion girl, she chose to confide in her friend who was a nurse, to ask for advise about the medical aspect of being a post abortion patient. The nurse friend was blindsided with information about her friend that was deeply against her moral code, and she imprudently blabbed that to the girls mother. It' seems stupid and not useful, but not a Hipaa violation.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

The scenario we were discussing involved a young woman who had confided in a nurse friend about an abortion. The nurse friend was against abortion and had been wracked with guilt for having this information, so she ended up blabbing to the young woman's mother. I thought she was just guilty of having a big mouth and poor judgement, the other person thought she violated HIPAA

What a crappy "friend"! If she felt so guilty just knowing about another person's abortion, she should have spoken to her clergy, or spouse. To tell the woman's mother is unforgivable.

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

That's what I thought. I don't really consider that I have the same legal level of obligation to someone whose care isn't assigned to me as my patient. In the case of the abortion girl, she chose to confide in her friend who was a nurse, to ask for advise about the medical aspect of being a post abortion patient. The nurse friend was blindsided with information about her friend that was deeply against her moral code, and she imprudently blabbed that to the girls mother. It' seems stupid and not useful, but not a Hipaa violation.

Exactly. What would the nurse friend have done if she was a patient who was admitted for hemorrhagic bleeding and the woman notified her that she had an abortion say two days prior then the mother walked in not knowing what happened? Would she have told then because it's against HER morals? Just because something is against your morals or background religious or other wise gives the nurse no right to tell anybody what they had done. She should have said that she felt uncomfortable with talking about it and left it at that. She shouldn't knock anybody else for doing something that she doesn't think is right because she will face this alot in her career and it'll be short if she puts her personal feelings into it.

[leslymill]

What a crappy "friend"! If she felt so guilty just knowing about another person's abortion, she should have spoken to her clergy, or spouse. To tell the woman's mother is unforgivable.

I could forgive her.

It was her grandchild after all.

It isn't a HIPPA violation. It is a violation in a friends trust. There was probably a better way to go about that moral delemma. I do think grandma has a right to know but it is the person who didn't want to be a mother's place to do that.

I is a violation, just not HIPAA.

[bethin]

"(4) HEALTH INFORMATION.--The term 'health information' means any information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium, that--

"(A) is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university, or health care clearinghouse; and

"(B) relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual, the provision of health care to an individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/pl104191.htm

[LydiaNN]

I know nothing.

[leslymill]

is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university, or health care clearinghouse; and

Well it could be debated in court that it is any health care provider on or OFF duty, or one directly involved in providing health care.

I need a supreme court ruling .....sigh.

I think ethically she did something wrong because she had a ethical issue.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I could forgive her.

It was her grandchild after all.

It isn't a HIPPA violation. It is a violation in a friends trust. There was probably a better way to go about that moral delemma. I do think grandma has a right to know but it is the person who didn't want to be a mother's place to do that.

I is a violation, just not HIPAA.

I reread your post. Why would the grandma have a right to know? The woman who got an abortion was over 18. The friend felt it necessary to inform the adult woman's mother for some reason.