employee rights

[cookielady,rn]

Something recetly happened on the job that involved a patient putting everyone's health at risk. One person was indeed exposed to something that could be deadly. The entire hospital knows about the incident. If this had happened TO a patient instead of BY a patient the person could sue. Does the employee have any right to privacy? Is there law on this?

[llg, PhD, RN]

Obviously, we are not lawyers here, we are nurses and are not qualified to give legal advice. If you (or the exposed employee) wants a legitimate legal advice, you'll have to ask an attorney.

However, things like needle-sticks, blood spatters, etc. are not uncommon and usually there are several bystanders who know about it at the time of the incident. It's kind'a hard to stop people from discussing something that is "common knowledge" at the scene and I would think that would be a hard legal case to make. However, the employee's lab work and follow-up treatment etc. are part of their medical records and medical records (even employee health records) are private and are defintely considered protected health information under HIPAA.

So ... in other words ... I think you need to be more specific in your question. Have the employee's medical records been disclosed inappropriately? .... or are people just talking about something that is common knowledge because a lot of people were aware of it at the time? Also, how many people did the effected person discuss it with? Did he/she discuss it with some friends who aren't keeping those friendly discussions confidential? (It's not a HIPAA violation to gossip if you are not a person's health care provider.) ... or Are people who are involved because they are officially treating the employee disclosing private information?

So, the answer to your original question is probably ... It depends on the specifics of the situation.