Is there a legal way to do this...

Nurses HIPAA

Published

Hope there is a HIPAA expert out there!

Here is the scenario,..very public, rape, murder of a 4 yr old in your town. The police have DNA that identifies the subject, his name and photo is on every TV station in town. He shows up in your ER, using a different name, but his tattoos ID him without a doubt. He is checked in as a pt. Is there any legal way to call the police?

This isn't homework. The story has been changed but the circumstances are similar to something that happened to a coworker recently. Is there a legal way to turn this creep in?

Specializes in Critical Care.

It's illegal to harbor a suspected criminal, every ethical standard I know agrees that dangerous people need to be contained, not allowed to walk out.

Abiding by Federal and State privacy laws is not harboring.

If that guy walked out & hurt anyone else, the hospital would face major sanctions, horribly negative press, and probably eventually shut down.

They could face sanctions for violating HIPAA and state privacy laws, but not for abiding by all pertinent laws.

I get the desire to call in this case and it's hard to criticize someone who would, but the law is actually pretty clear here.

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[h=1]When does the Privacy Rule allow covered entities to disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials?[/h][h=3]Answer:[/h]The Privacy Rule is balanced to protect an individual’s privacy while allowing important law enforcement functions to continue. The Rule permits covered entities to disclose protected health information (PHI) to law enforcement officials, without the individual’s written authorization, under specific circumstances summarized below. For a complete understanding of the conditions and requirements for these disclosures, please review the exact regulatory text at the citations provided. Disclosures for law enforcement purposes are permitted as follows:

  • To comply with a court order or court-ordered warrant, a subpoena or summons issued by a judicial officer, or a grand jury subpoena. The Rule recognizes that the legal process in obtaining a court order and the secrecy of the grand jury process provides protections for the individual’s private information (45 CFR 164.512(f)(1)(ii)(A)-(B)).



  • To report PHI that the covered entity in good faith believes to be evidence of a crime that occurred on the covered entity’s premises (45 CFR 164.512(f)(5)).


  • When does the Privacy Rule allow covered entities to disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials?


    The person in question is a subject of a court ordered warrant and also he has comitted a crime when using a false name to seek medical treatment.

    He can and should be reported to the police. If you knowingly do not report him to the police and are not under duress by him you are considered aiding and abetting a fugitive from law and can be charged with a crime.

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Specializes in hospice.

Dear sweet Jesus.....

This is why I'll never move up from aide to nurse and why I feel like I need to get out of health care ASAP. The fact that anyone would hesitate to call is just disgusting. Do it anonymously, whatever you need to do, but DO IT.

We all have mortgages and need our paychecks. And there REALLY are things more important than that.

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So what's your point?

Suspects can't be convicted till they are apprehended, arraigned, brought to trial.

thats our system.

Exactly. And OP was told that the 'suspect' would have to be apprehended by someone other than by the employees of the hospital. That's their system.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

Read it again.

The issue was never whether he'd be apprehended by an employee (which would have been foolish), but whether they could report to the police the presence of a person wanted for a violent and heinous crime.

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Well,...this good little nurse asked the manager, and spoke with security and was told that unless this patient had a gunshot wound we could not report that he was in our hospital. Now,.if someone called asking for him by the name he used, we could say he was in the hospital. We were told that we have no right to inform Law enforcement just because he was wanted anymore than we aren't allowed to turn in drug abusers or drunk drivers. Now if he had a missing child with him or an endangered senior citizen or handicapped person than we can call. This was from security who knew who this man was.

Let me clarify..

I don't care what management said, what security said, what almighty HIPAA says~~

I would turn the the monster in ... in a heartbeat.

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They guy was on television, the police have a APB out on the guy. I imagine there is also a warrant out for his arrest. Somehow I'm not too concerned about this person's privacy and constitutional rights at this point.

If this is the case you'd only be credible if you also stated that you aren't concerned about your own Constitutional rights. Can't have it both ways.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.
Why are you calling the police? He's wanted? If they KNOW who committed this horrendous crime, they are just waiting for someone to spot him and turn him in? I'm confused....

Yes Bucky,..that is exactly what was happening!! He was a known felon, they knew who he was, they just couldn't catch up with him!

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Let me clarify..

I don't care what management said, what security said, what almighty HIPAA says~~

I would turn the the monster in ... in a heartbeat.

So you've become judge, and jury. By virtue of what, a nursing education?

Other than that, you claim that you would defy your employer, and call the police. Several have said the same. I wonder if anyone can post a poll in here to ask- would you call the police to report a suspected patient, despite your employer having a policy that that would end your employment?

To narrow things down, we can assume that your reporting is based on credible, current information that the patient in question is most likely the suspect in question, and that you have no question in your mind that this patient has probably committed the heinous crime he's suspected of (he hasn't been charged, because he hasn't been arrested), and that you feel compelled to risk your job (and future employment) by reporting this patient to the police. In other words: You are not taking this reporting lightly.

I'm curious. (But in no way minimizing the strong feelings some people feel about this suspect patient, BTW). This poll would serve to give the audience some further information to consider. I suspect the results would be about 50/50.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

Just so you all understand,...this man was arrested, just outside of the hospital. I have no idea how or why,..I was just trying to find a legal way to do what any of us would agree needed to be done. Our security guards also mentioned the whole problem of what if he was arrested because someone at the hospital illegally turned him in,..he is in jail now,...I was just curious to find out if there would have been a legal way to handle this situation.

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Dear sweet Jesus.....

We all have mortgages and need our paychecks. And there REALLY are things more important than that.

More easily said, than done. What about the nurse that refuses to assist with circumcision? Deal with gay patients, or AIDS? Or to do anything mandated by the employer, as part of keeping a job?

It's easy to make such comments. Less so to defend them in the face of unemployment, and a history of being terminated for bucking company policy.

An anonymous call to the police would be the 'perfect' solution, for SURE. IF that call really 'was' anonymous. The problem with anonymity is that most people just can't keep things to themselves- after they make that call, next they will post all about it on Facebook, or whatever.

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He had to be discharged at some point at a certain time making him no longer a patient just a random on the street. Someone could have spotted him and called.

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