Has anyone had a pt's family member take pictures of you during care?

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

Okay, the weirdest thing happend yesterday at work. (Why do I always get the nuts???) The doctor was examining the pt and the pt's wife was holding up her phone. I thought she was looking at something on the phone, but thought that it was odd the way she was holding it up. After the doctor leaves, I am in the process of settling the pt back down and I hear a click. I looked at the pt's wife and asked if she took a picture? She said yes. I asked if I was in it and she said yes, but that was okay, right? I told her that I didn't like people taking pictures of me at work. She brushed it off and said that I was not doing anything wrong, so it shouldn't be a problem. OOOKKKAAAYYY! I really felt like this was a problem. I don't want my picture plastered on the net or something. Don't we have at least a molecule of a right to privacy regarding our picture being taken or since we work with the public, is that right out the window? Any thoughts?

[southern rn]

you really need to bring this to your supervisor's attention. Taking pictures of you like that is definately not allowed and they will ask her to stop.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I dont think we should have our picture taken without somebody requesting it. Even then at work I feel it is an invasion of our privacy.

I think you have a right to not be happy about it

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

Thank you both. I did bring it to my manager's attention. They went to talk with the family member with me and the family member denied it completely and told us we needed a court order to see her pictures. Can you believe some people??? She absolutely denied it in front of me and the manager.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I've had people take pictures of me....but I work in mother/baby, and the pics run something like, "Here's the nurse giving little Evan his first bath..."

Most of the pts are kind enough to ask if I mind getting my picture taken. Since I can recognize that (in that situation, anyway) the pic is less about me and more about their baby, I say sure, no problem, just please try not to get my face in it. I've not had anyone have a problem with that so far. However, in another clinical setting, I would definitely have a problem with people taking my pic doing patient care.

[Sally Lou]

Could this be considered a hippa violation? If nurses taking pic's of patients is a violation it's only right that patients and family members have that regulation too.

Personally, i would have taken the cell phone gone to my manager and shown her (and said it was without consent) then deleted it.

[Guest717236]

they went to talk with the family member with me and the family member denied it completely and told us we needed a court order to see her pictures. can you believe some people??? she absolutely denied it in front of me and the manager.

wow, it that a red flag! your manager should notify her director of nursing and the hospital attorney should be aware of the whole situation,

including the "you need a court order" statement.

and if she denied taking pictures of you, why do you need a court order to see the pictures?

there is a lot wrong with this situation.

so sorry you need to deal with this.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Could this be considered a hippa violation? If nurses taking pic's of patients is a violation it's only right that patients and family members have that regulation too.

Personally, i would have taken the cell phone gone to my manager and shown her (and said it was without consent) then deleted it.

Nope, privacy laws have to do with members of the healthcare team disseminating private information of clients. There's no professional relationship between family members so the law doesn't apply unless they're taking pictures of other patients.

If you tried to take a cellphone away from a visitor, you could be charged with assault if not robbery. Don't go there.

I agree that it's over the top and that risk management needs to get involved and rules clarified for the family, if there are any rules. If there aren't any rules, staff needs to pitch a fit until there are.

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

Personally, i would have taken the cell phone gone to my manager and shown her (and said it was without consent) then deleted it.

Really? I doubt that you can legally take someone's property away from them even if they did something wrong with it. I am not disagreeing with the OP's concern, but if they would attempt to follow this advice then they could be accused of theft! Bad idea.

[TonyaM73, ASN, RN]

No one quite knew what to do in this situation other than talk to the family involved. We all know that no one can take a picture of the patient except in routine pt care such as pressure ulcers and such, but what about the nurse or doctor? This was definately a unique situation. I just wondered if anyone else was ever in a similar situation? I agree with the above poster that in another clinical setting, such as with babies, it would be a different matter and if the family member had asked me, we would have had a discussion about boundaries. There was no warning, just CLICK.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

We have it written into our visitor guidelines that parents are more than welcome to take pictures of their baby, but only their baby. We do not allow videotaping either. If parents are caught taking pictures of other babies or even staff, we can call security and they will confiscate the phone/camera and have them erase it in front of them.

[CareFully]

Some of my daughter's newborn pictures have nurses in them, but not during the performance of procedures and they seemed okay with it at the time. I agree that it wouldn't be a HIPAA violation because it wasn't taken by a healthcare worker. It is a big problem if the nurse feels uncomfortable with it and the patient will not delete it. It may have been a little late after that first picture, but it might help to mention to the patient that cellphones can interfere with hospital equipment.