Friend violating HIPAA! What should I do?

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Hello,

I'm a block 1 nursing student, just barely starting out, but I have a friend/acquaintance who is in block 3 of nursing. She's also a CNA/aide. A couple of days ago I was watching her snapchat story and a video captioned "Lol, when your patient doesn't want to do their therapy" came up.

It was a short thirty second video of a giggling girl in a hospital gown crouching in a box and arguing about something, in the background I can hear my friend's voice say. "You have to do your therapy, 'Anna'!" (idk what the little girl's name actually is).

I'm 90% sure this is a HIPAA violation, and I worry that my friend will do something to ruin her career, etc. As shocked as I was to see this video, I can't help but remember the first time we went to the art museum (first and only time!) and I had to physically pull her back from the art work so she wouldn't touch it, again.

Should I say something? I used to be really good friends with her, but I just got annoyed with her behavior, and I distanced myself from her. It wasn't any one specific action, I just did not enjoy her company. She is a nice person, but she can be....thoughtless/reckless/ignorant in her actions.

Thanks for reading this, and for your comments!

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Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.

I do not mean to come across as harsh, but I would report her. This might not be the first time this has happened, and im sure that although the patient may never know, if family find out it won't be pretty for the facility and kind of unfair to them to be blind sided like that. HIPPA violations, which include using social media to post patients images without their knowing or permission, is a serious thing. And even though I do not know this nursing student, going off of what you stated, her behavior has shown to be reckless in the past. We take an oath to protect our patients and be their advocates when we graduate. I believe that you have no reason to hold back reporting this.

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Specializes in ER.

You need to report it, this is an egregious violation, and I'm certain against hospital policy to video or photograph any patient.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Not only is it an obvious HIPAA violation, but she is also degrading a patient and using her status as a nurse to "entertain" her friends. On the face of it, she has no business being in any position of trust. You worry that it will ruin her career? I think you should worry she will actually become a nurse. This is where nursing advocacy comes in. As an advocate for patients, this should be reported.

You can report to the feds here U.S. Department of Health & Human Services - Office for Civil Rights

Here is the NCSBN page on reporting nurses Filing a Complaint | NCSBN

You could also report to the school but this might not be confidential.

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Thanks for your comments. I knew this is a serious breach, but I didn't really know what to do about it. I need to think about this because the video is no longer available, and there is no evidence of what happened. It would just be my word against hers, because snapchats only last 24 hours. It would be a case of 'she said, he said'. I don't want to become embroiled in something pointless if there's really nothing I can do. Maybe I should just talk with her about the seriousness of what she did.

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Wow, reporting her for that is premature. Talk to her first, tell her it's a violation of patient rights. If she says she didn't realize that it could be seen that way and will stop, then what good will it do to report her? If she says she will continue to do it anyway, then sure, report her.

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Not only is it an obvious HIPAA violation, but she is also degrading a patient and using her status as a nurse to "entertain" her friends. On the face of it, she has no business being in any position of trust. You worry that it will ruin her career? I think you should worry she will actually become a nurse. This is where nursing advocacy comes in. As an advocate for patients, this should be reported.

You can report to the feds here U.S. Department of Health & Human Services - Office for Civil Rights

Here is the NCSBN page on reporting nurses Filing a Complaint | NCSBN

You could also report to the school but this might not be confidential.

Lol. There's no need to report this stupid video to the feds. I think someone might be taking themselves a little too seriously. Just calm down.

OP: talk to your friend first. Educate her on why this is a bad idea. See how she reacts and go from there.

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Specializes in NICU.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything reportable since it's been taken down and can't be proved. Educate your friend that if it HAD been caught she would be in teouble.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

I will not calm down. Do you think what she did is OK? I'm glad it has been taken down though. Hopefully she has realized the error of her ways.

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I will not calm down. Do you think what she did is OK? I'm glad it has been taken down though. Hopefully she has realized the error of her ways.

A lot of people do a lot of things that aren't okay. That doesn't mean they need to be referred to the feds. Why refer them to the feds, if you can educate the person and they stop on their own?

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Specializes in Telemetry.
Wow, reporting her for that is premature. Talk to her first, tell her it's a violation of patient rights. If she says she didn't realize that it could be seen that way and will stop, then what good will it do to report her? If she says she will continue to do it anyway, then sure, report her.

So someone coming into work early to research their upcoming patients is a HIPAA offense that upsets you yet this posting of a minor patient on social media doesn't reach that threshold? Excuse my sputtering shock for a moment.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

I would report her to the school but I would make sure that I would remain anonymous. Why would you lie about this.The school can also find out the patients she had been assigned to and can easily find the Anna in question.How would you even know about her patient unless you had seen something on social media....you will be believed. Let the school deal with her.

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