I caught a manipulative family member in the act!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 30, 2008

i was taking care of a chronic patient in our icu one weekend. after i'd done my assessment and started my charting on the computer, visiting hours commenced. her boyfriend came in and chatted with me for a bit (patient was intubated and comatose) and then casually commented, "i'll look at her chart now."

***** "i'll look at her chart now"? i explained hipaa policies to him and his response was "all the other nurses let me read her chart." once again, i explained the hipaa policies. he seemed to accept this, and since i couldn't believe that anyone else let him read the chart, i concluded that it was just an attempt at manipulation.

when i came back from lunch, the patient's boyfriend was sitting at the nurse's station, reading her chart. (and no, he was not the poa.) another nurse was sitting next to him, chatting on her cell phone, and when i commented about hipaa, she said "oh, i gave him the chart." explained hipaa to her, and explained the hospital's policy that if the patient, next of kin or poa wanted to read the chart, they would be given a chance to do so in the medical records department with an md at their side to answer questions. "oh, that's too much bother," she said. "he reads the chart every night." :banghead:

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 30, 2008

Ruby:

What did your manger say about that conversation?

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2008

Wow Ruby, I'm flabbergasted, just dumbstruck...

I've never heard of anyone doing that. Honestly, that is such a flagrent violation of patient privacy, I don't know what to say.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 30, 2008

ruby:
what did your manger say about that conversation?

that particular manager was very sweet . . . clueless, but very sweet. but to give you an idea of her what her reaction was, let me tell you another story. patient's husband was dissatisfied with patient care, and thought patient should be euthanized to "put her out of her misery." nursing and medical staff explained to husband that euthanasia isn't legal and while we could withdraw care, it was unlikely she'd die immediately after we did so. husband came back with a handgun to "put her out of her misery." (he also threatened to put nursing staff out of their misery.) he was arrested at midnight and carted off to jail, but was back on the unit visiting at 0600. when we called our manager, her response was, and i quote: "he's from montana. everyone carries a gun in montana."

conversation about the boyfriend reading the chart was pretty similar.

maryloufu · Mar 30, 2008

that particular manager was very sweet . . . clueless, but very sweet. but to give you an idea of her what her reaction was, let me tell you another story. patient's husband was dissatisfied with patient care, and thought patient should be euthanized to "put her out of her misery." nursing and medical staff explained to husband that euthanasia isn't legal and while we could withdraw care, it was unlikely she'd die immediately after we did so. husband came back with a handgun to "put her out of her misery." (he also threatened to put nursing staff out of their misery.) he was arrested at midnight and carted off to jail, but was back on the unit visiting at 0600. when we called our manager, her response was, and i quote: "he's from montana. everyone carries a gun in montana."
conversation about the boyfriend reading the chart was pretty similar.

remind me to never go to montana. whoa! :eek:

pebbles, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2008

that particular manager was very sweet . . . clueless, but very sweet. but to give you an idea of her what her reaction was, let me tell you another story. patient's husband was dissatisfied with patient care, and thought patient should be euthanized to "put her out of her misery." nursing and medical staff explained to husband that euthanasia isn't legal and while we could withdraw care, it was unlikely she'd die immediately after we did so. husband came back with a handgun to "put her out of her misery." (he also threatened to put nursing staff out of their misery.) he was arrested at midnight and carted off to jail, but was back on the unit visiting at 0600. when we called our manager, her response was, and i quote: "he's from montana. everyone carries a gun in montana."
conversation about the boyfriend reading the chart was pretty similar.

we had a manager like that.

she was asked to resign and escourted out of the building. :uhoh3:

husker_rn, RN · Mar 30, 2008

Gee, I lived in Montana for 6 years and never carried a gun....neither did my friends.

candida · Mar 30, 2008

sadly, the nurse that let him read the chart should be turned in for the hippa violation; the boyfriend has no legal right to read the chart. as for the husband with the gun - the hospital should have never permitted him back in the hospital - he may not have a gun but he could have a knife! what were they thinking?:cheers::lol_hitti

Jo Dirt · Mar 30, 2008

Talking about priceless looks...

I walked out of my husband's room at the hospital and walked to the nurse's station to ask if I could get a blanket for my husband and caught the nurse who had just left his room mocking me (I had asked for pain meds for him.)

Initially, I wanted to belt her one, but the look on her face when she turned around and saw I had been standing there was payback enough.

bollweevil · Mar 30, 2008

We have this pt whose just a royal pain. She refuses tx and tells her daughter shes not being taken care of, so there's a lot of manipulating going on their. But today, I was working a double 7a - 11:30p. Early this moring, the daughter asked the primary nurse how mom was during the night. Nurse told her she didn't get anything significant in report, but when she was done with her meds (we're in LTC) she'd double check. Well, this daughter then came up to me and the other nurse (rudely I might add) and asked the same thing. We told her that while we did not recieve any report on the pt, since she wasn't ours we would check the written report on the floor. The daughter requested we read it word for word. We explained that it was not open for her reveiw, but that we can honestly tell her that the mom had little problems last night. The daughter wanted to read this report, but it has every pt from the floor on there with info on each pt and that we can't show it to her. She really thought we were all hiding something, and we assured her that this wasn't the case.
Well, she left and came back at like 5pm. I was in with another pt. She cornered another (new) nurse and asked her to read from the floor report. (I don't even know how this lady came to find out we have this floor report, I guess from hovering over the nurses station so much) This nurse was flipping through and I walked up as the daughter was commenting on what she wanted to know. The daughter looked at me, and HER LOOK WAS PRICELESS. The shock that I was STILL their from the day shift. At that point she goes, "Oh I forget if I asked" and I couldn't resist, I said "you meant the same question you asked this morning?" :nono:at that point I told the other nurse that we had already been through this earlier today. BTW, this daughter can recall every and any detail, she DID NOT FORGET. She just didn't think I'd be there...:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire

Little problems at night? I also would want to know what they had been. Sorry but it sounds like you guys could have done a better job addressing her concerns. Hard to say since I am only seeing your side of things and don't know what it's like with her all the time. It does get old when people hound you. It's her mom, though.

morte, LPN, LVN · Mar 30, 2008

Little problems at night? I also would want to know what they had been. Sorry but it sounds like you guys could have done a better job addressing her concerns. Hard to say since I am only seeing your side of things and don't know what it's like with her all the time. It does get old when people hound you. It's her mom, though.

remember, tey WERENT her nurses, were trying to be nice....