In need of advice- discrimination???

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Specializes in Skilled, Private Duty, LTC.

This might be long, but please read.

I am a nursing student in a RN program. I was doing clinical at one of the local hospitals recently. I was summoned to a meeting with the dean of nursing at my college to discuss an issue that was brought to her attention by this hospital. Apparently the hospital claims that I posted patient information to my Facebook account, which I had not done. I asked the dean of nursing what proof the hospital had provided to support their claim that I broke HIPPA. The dean said that she asked the hospital for proof, but they said they could not provide any. To show that I had nothing to hide, I let the dean go through my Facebook page where she found no wrong doing on my part. After this, she said the hospital provided one bit of information from my Facebook page. It was a status update from October where I mentioned I had bipolar disorder. The hospital has banned me from ever doing clinical at their site again, and I'm guessing I can pretty much rule that hospital out as a future employer, as well as any of their local clinics.

Now, to me, this seems like a blatant case of discrimination based on my mental health status, and many others feel the same way.

Now, my question is, what should I do about this?

My father talked to a local nurse who said this could become a big problem for me even outside of this particular hospital. She said I should write a response to their claims, and demand that it be placed in my personnel file at this hospital. I don't know if that is the right path to take or not.

I don't want to be labeled as a person that broke HIPPA policy, but I also don't want to be discriminated against in the future do to my mental health status.

Can some one help me out??

Thanks

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Could the hospital have mistakenly thought that the information you posted about yourself was about a Pt instead?

It might be worth your while to contact a lawyer used to working with ADA issues to review your situation.

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Specializes in Skilled, Private Duty, LTC.
Could the hospital have mistakenly thought that the information you posted about yourself was about a Pt instead?

It might be worth your while to contact a lawyer used to working with ADA issues to review your situation.

Thanks for the response. The status update on bipolar, which I can't even find, said something along the lines of "Bipolar can make nursing school tough" so I think it would be hard to mistake that for patient information.

I'm a little scared about getting a lawyer involved. I don't want to be the nurse who filed a lawsuit. I can't imagine that would bode well for getting a job anywhere sometime in the future. I also worry if a lawsuit would effect my ability to finish my schooling and get my degree. I don't want to give the college any reason to excuse me from the program, you know?

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Specializes in Med/Surg-Telemetry.

wow...consulting a lawyer doesn't mean that you have to file a lawsuit. you can find out what your rights are and what you can do legally. i also question how they obtained the information, using your facebook... can they do that? are you being treated for the bi-polar disorder? if so, i would also investigate the ada. i am not sure if mental illness is covered or not. i am not an attorney though... it is worth taking a look at legally for your future in nursing.

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[color=#a0522d]good luck, i hope everything works out.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, anticoagulation mgmt.

I would definitely seek legal counsel on this. Just start off with a consultation. The lawyer can give you options and you can decide what you want to do. No one is going to know that you saw a lawyer.

Just curious, how and who looked at your Facebook page? You have to be a friend to see someone's Facebook page, right?

As someone else suggested, I would also call the ADA and get their feedback. And seek out a lawyer who deals with workplace discrimination.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Jeanne

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Specializes in Skilled, Private Duty, LTC.

Just curious, how and who looked at your Facebook page? You have to be a friend to see someone's Facebook page, right?

Jeanne

You are right about the Facebook thing. You do have to be a friend to view it, so I am not exactly sure how this hospital got access to my Facebook page. I can only think it was one of my classmates that was on my Facebook friend's list, and that opens up a whole other can of worms!

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The hospital has banned me from ever doing clinical at their site again

This doesn't seem like a case of the hospital questioning anyone, they have made their decision. This affects your nursing school and future employment. To protect both, I would contact a lawyer.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

This is why everyone needs to set their Facebook status to private; that way no one can see what you post on there, except for friends that you have added.

Prospective employers, these days, are looking up candidates' Facebook and MySpace pages to see what is on them.

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Specializes in Skilled, Private Duty, LTC.
This is why everyone needs to set their Facebook status to private; that way no one can see what you post on there, except for friends that you have added.

Prospective employers, these days, are looking up candidates' Facebook and MySpace pages to see what is on them.

I just want to clarify that my Facebook page was set to private. Someone on my friend's list would have had to given the hospital access to my account.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Wow. James, forget about being thought of as a troublemaker. This is really alarming--you've got to fight, fight fight this. You need to be VERY pro-active, you will NEVER get your reputation back if you don't. Of course it's a pain in the @ss, but it's YOUR future!!

There are more and more websites employers use to get the skinny on people, and if that makes it to one of them you are toast. I'm really sorry to be so adamant.

I am going to throw a guess that if you said "bipolar makes nursing school difficult" an over-zealous screener thought you meant PATIENTS with bipolar make life difficult.

What is so upsetting is that there ARE facebook accounts that post pictures of elderly people with abusive captioning, etc. So they are veerrry alert to that. You don't want to be painted with that brush. Hope you get it resolved. That is so.. unfair:down:

Just to be clear, I don't think it's as much an ADA issue as it is a HIPAA thing because THEY said it was privacy related. You aren't violating anything posting about yourself.

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Specializes in Skilled, Private Duty, LTC.

I guess I was secretly hoping this wasn't as big of an issue as the rest of you see it.

I thought that, since I got cleared by my college, that I didn't have to worry about this effecting my future beyond not being able to get a job at this one particular hospital.

I guess this whole thing is much more serious than I even knew.

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Specializes in MED SURG.

For them to accuse you of breaking HIPPA laws is stupid. I know alot about HIPPA, you can talk about health issues, you can even say I had this pt that had this, you just can't put a persons name one it. (have you ever seen untold stories of the ER (it states names have been changed to protect the privacy of the pt)). You can talk about yourself all you want because that is your right. When you sign a HIPPA paper you are stating you will not disclose information on your pts names and problems, nowhere on that paper does it say you cannot talk about yourself. So, heck yeah I would fight, I would demand an apology from the hospital and to clear your name. I would have them for a breach of privacy, because they did not have your promission to access your facebook.

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