Nurse Supervisor retaliating against patient

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I am currently seeking surgery and have come upon a troublesome situation. For the surgery I am seeking it requires approval from 5 different healthcare providers. I got approval from 4 providers and was not surprised the 5th provider, who is a dietitian, wanted more follow up care. I did not mind doing more follow up care but I chose not to go with that dietitian, for this post we can call her "Sam". Sam told me several times during the evaluation that she did not read my chart or any of the questionnaires she had required I mail in and most of the appointment was spent with her advertising milk products, even though I told her I was lactose sensitive.

When it came time to schedule a new appointment, my nurse coordinator called me and lightly tried to coerce me to see Sam again. I refused and made an appointment with another dietitian. The day before I was set to make the 2 hour drive to this hospital, the nurse supervisor calls me because Sam has told her to audit my chart because I was seeing another dietitian. She tells me that she is cancelling my appointment with my new dietitian and that I can't just switch providers like that and goes on and on about how she prefers I stay with Sam. I stood up for myself and told her that I would like to see a new provider and it was my right to choose. She then told me that in that case the appointment could not be made with my new provider until 2 more weeks.

I went through the conversation and got really annoyed that the first time I had any contact with this nurse supervisor was her trying to bully me into waiving the right to choose my providers and punish me for not wanting to keep being seen by Sam. I called her back and she did not answer and I left a message saying that I did not appreciate her bullying. The next few times I spoke to her she asked me to come back to the hospital and meet her the new doctor she had hired.

When I went to this appointment with this new doctor, it was just the doctor telling me that because I was mistrustful of the staff I was no longer eligible for surgery. The doctor went on further to tell that I had no right telling the nurse supervisor that I would not see Sam again and that she had heard the voicemail and that I should seek care elsewhere. They had me drive 2 hours so that they could tell me that I could not have surgery because they did not like me because I would not see Sam.

Before speaking with this nurse supervisor and Sam, I had great relationships with all of my healthcare providers and was set up to have surgery next month. The only thing that has changed between that time frame was the nurse supervisor disliking me.

Was it against hipaa for her to share my voicemail and phone calls with the new doctor? Also, I feel very mistreated and want to do something about it, what can I do?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Not a HIPAA violation. Does not appear to be retaliation

I'm betting you are attempting to get a bariatric surgical procedure. Many groups use a preferred provider group. If you want to have this elective surgery with this group it's quite possible that you need to see the team members. If you choose to not see one or more providers it's possible the practice policy is to discharge your from the practice and cancel the elective procedure if you elect to not see one of their preferred providers. You likely signed something to agreeing to this when you began the process. This is not uncommon in elective procedures including plastic surgery and bariatric surgery. Your choice in provider was to use this full group or choose another practice. Since you decided to not use Sam, and balked at the nurse supervisor trying to discuss the situation, they escalated the situation. Were you belligerent in insisting on "your right" to choose your provider? Sure you can choose your provider outside the preferred group but the end result may be elective surgery cancelled and dismissal from the group practice.

It was appropriate to share your voice mail with the new physician and not a HIPAA violation. What you can do is find another physician to do the surgery.

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Thanks for replying. I read all of my initial agreements and did not sign anything promising to see preferred providers, though this is not an issue because both providers were within the practice and team. I was not belligerent when I told them I wanted to try another provider, and I did not bad mouth the initial provider. Also, please don't assume that because I did not agree with the supervisor that it was automatically me "balking" at her. The supervisor did not call to explain any situation to me. She began the call by saying "Sam saw that you had an appointment with someone else and asked me to audit your chart. You need to make another appointment with Sam" When I asked why, the only reason she gave was because Sam knew me, which was obviously not the case given the only appointment I had with her.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Even if you were the most polite person requesting to see someone other than Sam just like you have the right to choose a provider the provider has the right to dismiss you if you don't use their preferred providers they can dismiss you without notice if it's pre-op for an elective procedure.

(Rules are different for non elective or critical medical conditions)

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There seems to be some confusion here, so I will clarify:

1. My nurse coordinator first asked me how the appointment went. When I explained in further detail what happened, she said well sometimes you just won't click with some providers, you can see one of our other providers and that is what I chose to do.

2.JustBeachyNurse brought up some great points, but none of which are relevant to this particular situation. My nurse gave me a list of providers I could choose from when we decided that it would be better if I saw someone else and I chose someone on that list who was a part of their team.

3. I spoke to the department head who told me that it was not a valid reason to cancel surgery or expel a patient and I should still prepare to have surgery at this hospital while the investigation is pending.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
There seems to be some confusion here, so I will clarify:

1. My nurse coordinator first asked me how the appointment went. When I explained in further detail what happened, she said well sometimes you just won't click with some providers, you can see one of our other providers and that is what I chose to do.

2.JustBeachyNurse brought up some great points, but none of which are relevant to this particular situation. My nurse gave me a list of providers I could choose from when we decided that it would be better if I saw someone else and I chose someone on that list who was a part of their team.

3. I spoke to the department head who told me that it was not a valid reason to cancel surgery or expel a patient and I should still prepare to have surgery at this hospital while the investigation is pending.

You failed to include any of this in your original post. My responses were based on your statements regarding leaving a message for the nurse calling her a bully and continually staying you were "standing up for your rights to choose a provider".

Still sharing the voice mail did not violate HIPAA.

Since you already filed a complaint and had an investigation initiated by a "department head", what are you seeking to discover from a nursing message board? You asked who could you complain to yet you already filed a complaint but did not disclose the information.

Something to think about, if the practice dismissed you and you subsequently filed a complaint do you really want that practice performing the surgery and providing after care? No surgeon will take over post-op care for another surgeon's patient without prior arrangements.

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JustBeachyNurse

"You failed to include any of this in your original post"

Yes, the information that I added for clarification in the comments was not in the initial post and it was not needed until you assumed the situation was something it was not.

"Since you already filed a complaint and had an investigation initiated by a "department head", what are you seeking to discover from a nursing message board? You asked who could you complain to yet you already filed a complaint but did not disclose the information. "

Read the initial post again. I never asked who I could complain to, I asked what I could do about the situation. Furthermore, if you were going to interpret that question as me looking for entities to complain to, the list would not stop at the hospitals departments. The answers I am seeking to discover are highlighted in the initial post and are followed by question marks.

As for going to a new hospital, I have been considering that. However, the people who I am having problems with are people who either have never treated me or are no longer apart of my healthcare team. I do not agree that this was not retaliation and whether I choose another hospital or not I want to bring light to this situation. Even in elective surgeries, it is still illegal to retaliate.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
JustBeachyNurse

"You failed to include any of this in your original post"

Yes, the information that I added for clarification in the comments was not in the initial post and it was not needed until you assumed the situation was something it was not.

"Since you already filed a complaint and had an investigation initiated by a "department head", what are you seeking to discover from a nursing message board? You asked who could you complain to yet you already filed a complaint but did not disclose the information. "

Read the initial post again. I never asked who I could complain to, I asked what I could do about the situation. Furthermore, if you were going to interpret that question as me looking for entities to complain to, the list would not stop at the hospitals departments. The answers I am seeking to discover are highlighted in the initial post and are followed by question marks.

As for going to a new hospital, I have been considering that. However, the people who I am having problems with are people who either have never treated me or are no longer apart of my healthcare team. I do not agree that this was not retaliation and whether I choose another hospital or not I want to bring light to this situation. Even in elective surgeries, it is still illegal to retaliate.

Again it's your perception you were retaliated against. We cannot determine that as we only have your side of the story. But you did not ask that. Your two queries posted were:

Was it against hipaa for her to share my voicemail and phone calls with the new doctor? Also, I feel very mistreated and want to do something about it, what can I do?

For the third time it was not a HIPAA violation for the nurse to share your phone calls & voice mails to a nurse on staff at the practice with a new physician that joined the practice.

You filed a complaint with the department head, what else do you want to do? Your post here is incomplete, but like everything else I've written is in response to the limited information you have chosen to share. Based strictly on what you posted this is not reportable to the board of nursing or other regulatory agency. What else do you want to hear? Seek therapy to help you deal with your feelings of mistreatment? Write a complaint on Yelp? Complain to the CEO? You already complained to the facility department head and shared your story here. I don't know what else you want to hear.

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You have been assuming and using "information" that was not in the post from your initial reply, you have effectively created a situation of your own imagination and are replying to my thread hoping it will have some relevance and balking when it does not. One example of this is that you keep stating that they had the right to dismiss me as a patient. I never stated that I had been dismissed as a patient, I said that they told me I was ineligible for surgery. Please use your reading comprehension skills. The only thing that you have had to add to this thread so far that has been useful is that it was not a HIPAA violation. I thank you for that information, but your erroneous assumptions and inapplicable comments besides that are not welcome. If you are not going to post based on the information provided please find another thread to post on.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

It's a public forum. Good luck to you to find the resolution you seek.

The dismissal from the practice correlation was based on your statement

that I should seek care elsewhere.
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Why are you on this message board? Or any other for that matter? You seem to have quite the problem registering that you will not know the situation nearly as intimately as the people in them, yet you keep replying with useless information. If you don't know what else I want to hear or what else to say, then stop commenting.

I am not sure why you are not getting that my main goal is not to complain to my hearts content, I wish to understand and maybe repair the situation because I liked the hospital.

Thank you for stating for the third time it was not a HIPAA violation, I did not need you too because unlike some, I possess the skill of reading comprehension and understood when you said it in your first post.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Why are you on this message board? Or any other for that matter? You seem to have quite the problem registering that you will not know the situation nearly as intimately as the people in them, yet you keep replying with useless information. If you don't know what else I want to hear or what else to say, then stop commenting.

I am not sure why you are not getting that my main goal is not to complain to my hearts content, I wish to understand and maybe repair the situation because I liked the hospital.

Thank you for stating for the third time it was not a HIPAA violation, I did not need you too because unlike some, I possess the skill of reading comprehension and understood when you said it in your first post.

GrnTea can be on this message board just as much as you can be. If you are stating that she will not know the situation as the people in them, true but then why make this post? What were you hoping to gain? By the way, anyone can reply since AN is a public forum.

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