I came across SEVERAL sheets of paper containing patient names while I was packing my ex's (who is a LPN) stuff. In addition, I also found a lot of medications (non-narcotics) and called the police who confiscated all of this including the patient names.
I talked to my ex (who of course is playing dumb) and he said that the place he is working at isn't going to press charges and is in the process of trying to work for the same company somewhere else. I am a RN and I don't work for his company, a nursing home that I'm sure will try to sweep it under the rug because they liked him so well.
However, who do I report all of this to besides the police? I contacted ISNAP and they mentioned we will get the Attorney General involved. What about the HIPPA violation? It is a violation to have patient names outside a healthcare facility in which it came from correct? I don't know what to do...I want to take the right steps! Please help!
That's just it....is it enough? Would you like you relatives information out in the public and no one held accountable for it? That's what I thought. For the record, as far as the medications are concerned, ISNAP has contacted me and we are going to the attorney generals office. I'm wanting to know who I contacted for the HIPPA violation.
What kind of info was on the sheets? Was this report sheets he had used to take care of the patients? Regardless, violation or not, this information was not out "in the public"- it was with his personal things, no? Who else could/would see it?
DESTROY THE STUFF? Are YOU licensed? We have a responsibility under nursing laws to report and I have ALWAYS done things by the book. THE PROOF is in the police hands right now. What if that was YOUR name and health information on those sheets?
So you have never talked about your patients to your ex? Really? Its funny that you only look to follow the rules after the relationship is over, that or somehow you never noticed things that he obivously didn't care to hide all that much. It just looks to me that you are being vindictive, you were wronged I get it.
As far as personal information goes for me, I was 7 years military, privacy was never an option (and we had our SSN's plastered all over everything), there just wasn't space for private consults or information security. Thats not saying I don't safegaurd information, just that I understand that things happen and as long as the information was not leaked to the wrong people it should be handled on the lowest level.
If this person was no longer your ex and you were in a loving relationship would you be responding the same way?
Not saying he should have taken those medication home or info with patients' names on them but your email come across more as a "bitter ex" than as a "nurse doing the morally right thing"
For me, it would depend in what context he had the names. Were they listed on a worksheet type thing to keep track of pts? If so, meh, not so much a big deal. Not like he putting them out on bulletin boards for everyone to read.
Same thing with meds. Do you know how many bottles of local get left around my locker room at work? We get meds for the next case and sometimes you put them in the warm-up jacket and forget about them. I'd be more worried if they were narcotics. Granted, one should really be more careful with meds in general but the fact that they're non-narcotic tells you he's not addicted.
This is just my but this seems to be solely about a relationship gone bad. I'm not buying the whole "ethics" argument. Like a PP said..it probably wouldn't have been an issue when you two were doing well. And I too am a firm believer in Karma.
Agree with the above posters. You got him by the short hairs and yanked them good. Let him go. With the people you already reported him to he's toast. That should be enough.
Wow. U hav done enough. Wondering if u would still be working on finding more ways to "bust" the person if he was your friend, hubby or family. Human first, nurses second.
I came across SEVERAL sheets of paper containing patient names while I was packing my ex's (who is a LPN) stuff. In addition, I also found a lot of medications (non-narcotics) and called the police who confiscated all of this including the patient names.
I talked to my ex (who of course is playing dumb) and he said that the place he is working at isn't going to press charges and is in the process of trying to work for the same company somewhere else. I am a RN and I don't work for his company, a nursing home that I'm sure will try to sweep it under the rug because they liked him so well.
However, who do I report all of this to besides the police? I contacted ISNAP and they mentioned we will get the Attorney General involved. What about the HIPPA violation? It is a violation to have patient names outside a healthcare facility in which it came from correct? I don't know what to do...I want to take the right steps! Please help!
You know, I'm not a therapist, only a lowly nurse. But after reading this post, I think I can see why he'd be an EX...
What's that saying...."Hell hath no fury than a woman scored!" ..or rather, in your whole career, you mean to say that you have never in the slightest way ever talked about patient's outside of the work setting. Find that hard to believe....."Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." He must have hurt you pretty bad for you to go after him like that.....LET IT GO!
Everyone knows the mature thing to do is to put all his clothing in a big pile and pour bleach all over it. Then you go and eat a gallon of ice cream and cry.
every now and again after a bad night, i forget about the kardex's in my pocket and take them home. then when i work again (which is sometimes a few days later) i bring them back to shred. it happens. i am a LPN, my boyfriend is a RN.... have you never gone home and said "jeez, honey, i had this patient today that was so complex"? i guess we should both be arrested too. did you ever think that maybe he didn't have malicious intent by bringing patient worksheets home?
it sure sounds like you've done enough. blow the whistle, wonderful.... but i really wonder if you'd be taking it this far if it wasn't your ex that was guilty. it seems more revenge than ethics to me. now if the man goes to jail, owes a huge fine and/or loses his nursing license and his livelihood, i hope that makes up for whatever he did to you that was so bad.
the police and the atty general are more than enough. drop it and move on.
but this seems to be solely about a relationship gone bad. I'm not buying the whole "ethics" argument. Like a PP said..it probably wouldn't have been an issue when you two were doing well. And I too am a firm believer in Karma.
Da_Milk_of_Amnesia, MSN
514 Posts
You feel better about yourself now that you really stuck it to him? Sounds more like revenge than anything else.
Just remember Karma is an Beeotch!