It's a crime to take pictures of your patients

Nurses HIPAA

Published

If I take a picture of my patient it violates HIPAA law even if I have genuine concern for them and even if they're photogenic.

Even if I have no plan to share the picture with outsiders and even if it's a good picture, I can get in trouble for this and be asked to erase them. Legally, they can call the state on me. They call me "a covered entity."

Why is it okay for a newspaper staff or T.V. channel to publish pictures of nursing home residents and include false flattery and talk about their disease process?

I was irritated when I saw the news report that filmed dementia patients singing in a group.

They're confused so it's not rational to ask their permission to give them this kind of publicity. Even with no identifying information, I find this disgusting.

Am I the only one who has a problem with this double standard?

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Why do nurses seem to have such difficulty understanding HIPAA regulations? I honestly don't get what's so hard to understand.

Baffles me,too (OP is not a nurse)

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I know a girl who works as a dietary aide at a local nursing home. She posts pictures of the residents on her Snapchat story all the time. This is against HIPAA correct?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I know a girl who works as a dietary aide at a local nursing home. She posts pictures of the residents on her Snapchat story all the time. This is against HIPAA correct?

Absolutely!

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Absolutely!

That's what I thought. When I became a CNA we had HIPAA explained very well to us. I'm surprised that the dietary aides weren't taught this as well.... Or maybe they were and she just didn't listen!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
That's what I thought. When I became a CNA we had HIPAA explained very well to us. I'm surprised that the dietary aides weren't taught this as well.... Or maybe they were and she just didn't listen!

They were...they had orientation and are obligated under the same regulations that the facility is.

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.
Maybe the OP is just worded weirdly (poorly, even) but I didn't read it to mean that she wished she COULD take these pictures, but wondered why the news media IS allowed. At least, that's what I THINK she was going for....?

In which case, understanding what privacy laws do and don't apply, what one does and doesn't need consent for, would go a long way to knowing the answer to this :)

This tells me what I need to work on.

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.
Why do nurses seem to have such difficulty understanding HIPAA regulations? I honestly don't get what's so hard to understand.

It's like some other posters said, I don't think the news media should have more rights than health care staff.

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.
Baffles me,too (OP is not a nurse)

And again, let me explain that I think dementia patients being filmed on the news are vulnerable and I wonder if the news media should be filming them. I also think pictures of patients that are taped up on nursing home walls are debatable and that maybe some patients felt pressured to do what someone wanted them to.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
It's like some other posters said, I don't think the news media should have more rights than health care staff.

What rights ? HIPAA does not apply to news media. News media secures a written waiver & consent from the subject, POA or next of kin to use video, images, photos, quotes, names or other identifying information in print or other media. Just because you did not witness the consent does not mean that consent was not obtained. News media does not have the rights. The patients/clients and their families have rights. News media and healthcare alike have legal and ethical responsibilities.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
And again, let me explain that I think dementia patients being filmed on the news are vulnerable and I wonder if the news media should be filming them. I also think pictures of patients that are taped up on nursing home walls are debatable and that maybe some patients felt pressured to do what someone wanted them to.

If the patient or legal next of kin consented the choice was made by the patient/family to be filmed and shown in the news.

Where did photos of patients taped up on nursing home walls come from in this discussion? I've only seen photos in private rooms and photos in private medical records (photos (other than condition documentation such as photos of a tissue injury that happened pre-admission and photo taken with consent) that are used as a means to verify patient identity such as in the MAR books).

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Specializes in Pedi.
It's like some other posters said, I don't think the news media should have more rights than health care staff.

This statement doesn't even make sense. News media doesn't have more "rights" than health care staff. They can't just waltz into a hospital and start taking pictures of patients. Again, HIPAA does.not.apply to the media. I worked on many high profile cases when I worked in the hospital- cases that involved children being abused by nannies that were covered by the local news media. The fact that the news reported on these cases doesn't mean that they have "more rights" than I do, HIPAA simply doesn't apply to them. And why should health care staff have any "rights" of their own when it pertains to patient privacy? You don't have the "right" to take care of a patient nor do I nor does Joe New York Times. If the patient's family gives Joe permission to include him in an article, there is no conflict, permission has been granted and it's still not Joe's "right" to take this picture, it's the patient/family's right to grant him permission.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
"Interesting" isn't a good enough reason for taking a photo of a client, or a client's body part, wound, etc., without appropriate authorization.

Who should authorise that?

With my patients verbal permission I would take a photo of a wound/lesion to document its condition on admission to the district nursing service. I found particularly with chronic wounds it was good for the patient to be able to see the progression of their wound.

The photo would only ever cover the section of the body containing the wound with a paper tape measure used to show size. Any potentially identifying marks/objects would be kept out of the photo.

Unless its to document a wound/lesion/abuse injuries I can not for the life of me understand why any nurse would think that its ok to take a photo of your patient

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