How Does This Happen in an OR?

sunnyjohn · Feb 22, 2005

Oh my goodness....This is terrible... that is assault ..... Jail time??? YES!!

cadillac05 · Feb 22, 2005

This sounds like fiction. "Under anesthesia" indicates that a provider was at the head of the table. The circulator would have been present while the patient was in stirrups. In other words, the patient would not be left alone with a male tech in the room. If pictures were taken illicitly, each person present should be fired!! I've worked in ORs, large & small, for years and find this scenario a little hard to believe.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Feb 22, 2005

With today's camera/cellphones I can see where it could be posiible and go unnoticed. Or with those tiny pen cams.

If this case is true, yes.. jailtime ! :angryfire

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 22, 2005

With today's camera/cellphones I can see where it could be posiible and go unnoticed. Or with those tiny pen cams.
If this case is true, yes.. jailtime ! :angryfire

Yep

stevierae · Feb 22, 2005

Here is what may have happened: If a laparoscopic procedure was being done, there would have been a sterile video camera on the field, as there always is.

This scrub tech, while supposedly color balancing or "whiting out" the camera, might have, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, surreptiously aimed the camera at her lady partsl area while she was up in stirrups. I am not sure, however, how this could be done without the pictures appearing on the video monitor in full view of everybody on the surgical team.

I am thinking he also could have surreptiously snapped the pictures and printed them out off the video printer later after nobody was in the room.

I think a more likely scenario is that he may have slipped a video tape in the VCR and hit "record" before anybody was in the room, and then secretly took the tape home and edited out everything but the shots he wanted, then converted the to hard copies. Recording is silent, and we record so seldom that nobody (particularly the circulating nurse) would even notice that the recorder was on, not having done it themselves.

What do you think, Shodobe?

Since the scrub is sterile, it's unlikely he used a cell phone camera--he could not have had it on his sterile field (back table or Mayo stand) without someone noticing. Even if he had it in a sterile plastic bag, someone would have had to have added both the sterile plastic bag to the field, and dropped the unsterile cell phone into it.

This is farfetched, but there is also the possibility that he was not concerned about sterility; he wanted his pictures, and so he dispensed his OWN cell phone to the field and kept it hidden among his instruments--but I think this scenario is highly unlikely.

The news site said she had a GYN procedure after a miscarriage. I am thinking she probably had a D&C and also a laparoscopy. This would be the case if she had an ectopic pregnancy, particularly. The laparoscopy would explain the presence of the laparoscopic video camera and VCR unit.

Now, if she only had a D&C, I can't imagine how he took the pictures.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Feb 22, 2005

If this guy is unscrupulous enough to do something like this, then IMO, he certainly also would care less about breaking sterility. :stone

The silent video recording is a strong possibility.

The pen cams, too, are awful tiny... just don't know. Bet we're going to FIND OUT, though ! This is beyond disgusting. :stone

Jussurfin · Feb 22, 2005

The silent video recording is a strong possibility.
The pen cams, too, are awful tiny... just don't know. Bet we're going to FIND OUT, though ! This is beyond disgusting. :stone

To clarify any confusion, this was not a clandestine camera. It was a standard size digital camera and the camera this person used was shown during the segment. It could not have easily been used without someone noticing unless he was the only one in the OR at the time. As the transcript stated:

"Twenty-three-year-old Jose Rostro was arrested, the DIGITAL camera in his possession taken to the crime lab."

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Feb 22, 2005

To clarify any confusion, this was not a clandestine camera. It was a standard size digital camera and the camera this person used was shown during the segment. It could not have easily been used without someone noticing unless he was the only one in the OR at the time. As the transcript stated:
"Twenty-three-year-old Jose Rostro was arrested, the DIGITAL camera in his possession taken to the crime lab."

Oh wow... thanx for the clarification. DANG.. how on earth WOULD this have been possible ??? :uhoh21:

mcmike55 · Feb 23, 2005

I agree with some of the possible ways the photos could be taken, white balancing the camera/accidently hitting the capture button sound possible.

We have all hit the capture switch when we meant to hit the white balance.

The media calling it a digital camera.....being a part time media person, guess what, they don't always get it right, most lay people have no idea what to call equipment we use.

My biggest concern is, WHERE THE HE** WAS THE RN!!!! YOU KNOW....THE PATIENT ADVOCATE!!! Let's go ahead and add in, what, at least two docs?? That speaks volumes about their professionalism.

Which brings me to a question. How do you all handle all male (or female?) surgical teams, when working on a pt of the other gender?? Especially on call, after hours. We really have not addressed this, but following this posting, maybe we need to put it up on the front burner.

Mike

grimmy, RN · Mar 4, 2005

this is positively reprehensible. i agree...where was the rn? i do my utmost to instill confidence and trust to the patient and their family when i do the preop interview...and that would be shattered in a situation such as this. it absolutely breaks my heart, and fills me with rage. :angryfire

NURSEXB · Mar 5, 2005

I have been in the OR over 2 years as an RN and I cannot recall ever being out of the room long enough for someone to take digital pictures once the patient was positioned and before prepping and draping! Some scrubs do set up their table and break scrub until it is time to prep and may have a second to take a pic but someone representing anesthesia had to be present as well as a surgeon or resident! This is an absolute outrage! All those involved in the surgical team on that case should be dealt with in some manner! NOT for one minute would that ever occur in my room! :angryfire