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i'm concerned about you, actually. i don't know why this is so important...is he dangerous? i've had patients who were most likely wanted by law enforcement, but my job is to care for them, which includes respecting their rights. i doubt you'd want to be turned in when you are seeking medical care. if we start doing this, then people might not be compliant with follow ups or might avoid health care at all costs.
*jess*
What if he is dangerous?
What if there were an armed robber, or a cop killer or a serial rapist or a serial murderer out there, his name and picture have been on the news, he comes in to the ER after a mvc, are you going to treat and street because you don't want to violate hippa or because he might not come back for health care?
I don't see how it would violate HIPAA if you notified the officer in your ER about his warrants. You might want to make sure he really does have warrants so your credibility doesn't suffer in case he doesn't. :imbar
If he is wanted for ANY criminal violations, you can bet he is dangerous. It's just a matter of time before he gets around to violating the law against YOU.
I'm a little taken aback by the title of your thread. "Dodging" HIPAA is not something that you should even be willing to consider. If you had asked if informing a police officer was a HIPAA violation, that would be one thing. But talking about dodging HIPAA makes it sound as if you know this could well be wrong and you just want to find a loophole.
As for the HIPAA issue itself, I'm not sure an officer can run someone "just because." I could be wrong, but I think there has to be a valid reason to check a person's status. If that's the case, the finger would point back to you as the initiator of the request.
I can appreciate your desire to see this person taken into custody, but bringing him to justice isn't in your job description and may, in fact, put that very job in jeopardy.
Please, find another way to deal with this person.
liam36
1 Post
I am loking for some idea's on how to work around this Hippa issue. I have a neighbor who... let's say is not one of most upstanding citizens in our community and has numerous warrents for his arrest. The police know him very well but are never able to find him outside of his house. The other day he came into our ED for a follow up to an mvc. We have a police officer there 24/7. Could I have just told the officer that he had warrents or could I have fraised it in a way as not to violate a HIPPA issue?