HIPPA violation

kakamegamama · Jun 19, 2016

NEVER discuss a patient situation is the safest way to avoid violating HIPAA (NOT, HIPPA). As to answer your question, homework?

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Jun 19, 2016

Exactly exactly what personal identifiers or PHI did you reveal? If your "friend" is an attorney especially med mal they know better than to ask.

omp1708 · Jun 19, 2016

Like I said, I never mentioned a name, I didn't have contact with this patient and I wasn't working that night. All I said is that I had heard that the patient coded after an epidural and that she was given mouth to mouth cause they couldn't find an ambu bag. My "friend" was the one who told me that lady had texted her telling her she had coded and that she went for a c section and was cut "from north to south" and now this lawyer is trying to dig more info and my director wants to speak to me about this incident. I'm scared

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Jun 19, 2016

And there you go. Your friend isn't a friend he's unethical. You just gave him critical information the patient could not possibly have known and if you think he will keep your name out of it I suspect you better put your body armor on for the bus coming. You are going to be thrown under the speeding bus.

While not a HIPAA violation it's likely an ethical breech of facility policy. The patient could not have shared needing mouth to mouth you just gave the attorney potential evidence of incompetence and put your employer at high risk. Even though you had no first hand knowledge and it's not likely admissible if your statements are true it will be found in discovery.

Call your malpractice insurance carrier. If suspended/terminated the facility won't be covering you. Plus if your conversation put your employer at risk they may be able to seek damages against you. You

The ONLY correct answer "I don't know I didn't work last night" or if you did "It was busy, I don't recall" and change the subject.

floridaRN38 · Jun 19, 2016

Like I said, I never mentioned a name, I didn't have contact with this patient and I wasn't working that night. All I said is that I had heard that the patient coded after an epidural and that she was given mouth to mouth cause they couldn't find an ambu bag. My "friend" was the one who told me that lady had texted her telling her she had coded and that she went for a c section and was cut "from north to south" and now this lawyer is trying to dig more info and my director wants to speak to me about this incident. I'm scared

I would not speak to this person anymore about the situation that happened. A close nurse friend of mine was fired due to a HIPPA violation. And it was in regards to a pt coming in with CP. The pt that had CP found out a nurse at the ER talked about them..ended up being a huge investigation finally after a few months my friend got fired. It was her word against pts. IF she would of told her supervisor when she got called into the office she "knew nothing about the situation ". She would still have a job. So just be careful. If management gets involved and calls u in for a meeting say IDK. Also don't talk about it with anyone at work anymore. Good luck.

By the way after all of this went down my friend didn't lose her license just was fired. And now works in another ER. Ended up working out for the best in the long run for her

elkpark · Jun 19, 2016

Like I said, I never mentioned a name, I didn't have contact with this patient and I wasn't working that night. All I said is that I had heard that the patient coded after an epidural and that she was given mouth to mouth cause they couldn't find an ambu bag. My "friend" was the one who told me that lady had texted her telling her she had coded and that she went for a c section and was cut "from north to south" and now this lawyer is trying to dig more info and my director wants to speak to me about this incident. I'm scared

You don't have to mention a name, and you don't actually have to have worked with the individual, in order for your communication to be a violation of HIPAA; if you disclosed sufficient information for someone else to be able to identify the client, that's unauthorized release of protected information.

And "it turns out" your friend is a lawyer? How close a "friend" is this, that you don't know what she does for a living?

elkpark · Jun 19, 2016

The ONLY correct answer "I don't know I didn't work last night" or if you did "It was busy, I don't recall" and change the subject.

Or, even better, "I don't talk about work outside of work." There's no need to offer any kind of excuse for not answering questions.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Jun 22, 2016

I don't know that you've committed a HIPAA violation, but you certainly showed extremely poor judgment. You're repeating things 2nd and 3rd hand! And to a lawyer no less! I would be worried too. A definite learning experience!

Like I said, I never mentioned a name, I didn't have contact with this patient and I wasn't working that night. All I said is that I had heard that the patient coded after an epidural and that she was given mouth to mouth cause they couldn't find an ambu bag. My "friend" was the one who told me that lady had texted her telling her she had coded and that she went for a c section and was cut "from north to south" and now this lawyer is trying to dig more info and my director wants to speak to me about this incident. I'm scared

RiskManager · Jun 23, 2016

Call your malpractice insurance carrier. If suspended/terminated the facility won't be covering you.

Speaking as the person here who actually does hospital malpractice claims, the above statement is generally incorrect. As a general rule, even if you were to be fired, the hospital is still legally liable for your actions when you were an employee, and just because you are fired does not mean that you are not covered by the hospital's insurance for those actions. See my article on malpractice insurance for details.