Pt's FB pictures of me

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I am a nursing student, and my dad is an ON/GYN. I recently helped him deliver a baby, and his pt took pictures of us and posted them on Facebook. I would like to have these pictures, as I hope to become a CNM, and would love to have a picture of my dad and me at my first delivery. (There are pics of us with and without the baby.)

Is it a HIPAA violation if I click on the "..." and save these pictures to my phone since she made them public on Facebook (we are not FB friends. I searched for her.) I really want these pictures, but want to have them legitimately. Thanks!

Patients are a vulnerable population and if you think there is no difference in searching a public figure and a person whom you only know their information through a provider-patient interaction than I don't know what to say.

I am willing to be most employers would fire you for it and most instructors would dismiss you for it.

This is what I am talking about. She wouldn't know who this person was unless she was part of the treatment which in this case was helping to deliver the baby. I don't know but it seems wrong to be looking up your patients on facebook. So what that she didn't make her settings private. I'm sure she never thought that people might stalk her which is what the OP is doing.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
Patients are a vulnerable population and if you think there is no difference in searching a public figure and a person whom you only know their information through a provider-patient interaction than I don't know what to say.

I am willing to be most employers would fire you for it and most instructors would dismiss you for it.

Considering that I had no idea who the socially-prominent patient was until I was told at work, you could say knowing was as a result of the patient-provider relationship. Again, what is the difference?

Maybe there is no difference in my personal example, now that I have given information to downgrade the person from "public figure."

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Specializes in critical care.
Considering that I had no idea who the socially-prominent patient was until I was told at work you could say knowing was as a result of the patient-provider relationship. Again, what is the difference? Maybe there is no difference in my personal example, now that I have given information to downgrade the person from "public figure."[/quote']

If you honestly had no idea who this person was before they showed up in your facility, then I actually do think looking up their wiki would be inappropriate. If anything, it would affect your objectivity when treating them if you have them again. I doubt the patient would appreciate knowing you were ogling over them after you were exposed to such a private and personal experience with them.

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Maybe deep down OP realized it may not be the best idea. If she thought it was a good idea with no repercussions, she would have just done what she wanted to do and downloaded the pictures. My personal opinion is to be safe. I would leave the pictures alone. Try and recreate it. I KNOW you wanted the picture of your first experience delivering a baby but I think it would be best to let it go. Again, you don't want to do anything that could jeopardize your schooling. And anything you do that could cost your school their privileges to do clinicals at the hospital, can jeopardize your schooling.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
If you honestly had no idea who this person was before they showed up in your facility, then I actually do think looking up their wiki would be inappropriate. If anything, it would affect your objectivity when treating them if you have them again. I doubt the patient would appreciate knowing you were ogling over them after you were exposed to such a private and personal experience with them.

Everything has been cool up to this point, just a disagreement among peers. However...don't assume how I do or do not act when taking care of a patient, regardless of who they are. Shall I assume that if you ever are assigned to a patient who is prominent in the community, and you DO know who they are, you will recuse yourself from his/her care because you can't be objective?

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Everything has been cool up to this point just a disagreement among peers. However...don't assume how I do or do not act when taking care of a patient, regardless of who they are. Shall I assume that if you ever are assigned to a patient who is prominent in the community, and you DO know who they are, you will recuse yourself from his/her care because you can't be objective?[/quote']

Absolutely. If I ever found myself googling or Facebook "staking" a patient I would absolutely excuse myself from their care; if I were being totally objective I wouldn't be searching them.

People are making "assumptions" about your patient care based on posts you are making in which you don't seem to be concerned with respecting a patient's privacy.

I have cared for several very high-profile patients and I have never searched them for any reason.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
People are making "assumptions" about your patient care based on posts you are making in which you don't seem to be concerned with respecting a patient's privacy.

You can make any assumption you want about my patient care.

And with that, I'm done.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
You can make any assumption you want about my patient care. And with that I'm done.[/quote']

You don't have to make it personal, you can debate the issue.

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Specializes in critical care.
Everything has been cool up to this point just a disagreement among peers. However...don't assume how I do or do not act when taking care of a patient, regardless of who they are. Shall I assume that if you ever are assigned to a patient who is prominent in the community, and you DO know who they are, you will recuse yourself from his/her care because you can't be objective?[/quote']

My apologies if I have offended you. I wasn't saying it would affect you personally by any means. It was a general "you". I don't know anything about you personally and would never be able to make such a personal statement about you.

I agree - it is a disagreement among peers, and I've enjoyed hearing the perspectives. As social media is so incredibly prominent, this is something we might all encounter at some point.

As for the idea of the prominent figure, I do think it could potentially be difficult for (general) you to remain objective if (general) you looked someone up after learning they were prominent. An example - I know almost nothing about Justin Beiber, and in fact, never actually stopped to know who he is until I heard a rather funny phone clip of a young lady reporting her house being egged by him. If he were my patient one day (before knowing anything about him), I wouldn't think twice about who he is or what's going on in his life. But now that I know who he is, honestly, I'm irritated by this self-entitled little brat. I'd do my absolute best to remain objective, but somewhere in the back of my brain, I'd be screaming "what a little **** head!!!!" Now, that's a silly example, but hopefully you get my point. It's not just about the prominent people who MIT give you a positive feeling. Some people become prominent for doing terrible things, and I don't want to ever approach a patient with that hanging over our time together.

So, to answer your question, if I felt my judgment or attitude might be affected by what I know about a patient, I would definitely speak up. If my ability to give care might be compromised, shouldn't I?

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Anybody remember a simpler time when we could take a group photo with a patient who made a miraculous recovery, post the pics of our NICU "grads" on a wall or take photos of our co-workers in the nurses' break room for a special day without someone saying you violated "HIPAA"?

As for FB, I get stuff which pops up because of some common link or tag like we live in the same state or I clicked on something on my computer which planted a cookie. I don't actively seek out patients but I do occasionally have one pop up in the "people you might know section". This is a grey area especially if you are bound by policy as a student or employee against photography in the work place. This would be evidence you violated that rule regardless of who took the photo. I see that a bigger issue than "patient privacy" in this situation.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

The problem for me is using the information she obtained, the patients name, while being this patients caregiver...for personal use. Which is very possibly a HIPAA violation but it is an invasion of privacy...of the patient.

Did the patient say "I'm going to be listing these on FB look me up!" or was the patient/family taking excited pictures of a beautiful moment in their family, shared with family and friends, and the nurse used her name... obtained while caring for her to look her up. It's an abuse of information/PHI that was obtained while the patient was hospitalized. I have a sneaking suspicion that the facility, maybe the patient, and school, might view this differently.

Sure we CAN all do it.... but do we? I know I don't.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Maybe deep down OP realized it may not be the best idea. If she thought it was a good idea with no repercussions, she would have just done what she wanted to do and downloaded the pictures. My personal opinion is to be safe. I would leave the pictures alone. Try and recreate it. I KNOW you wanted the picture of your first experience delivering a baby but I think it would be best to let it go. Again, you don't want to do anything that could jeopardize your schooling. And anything you do that could cost your school their privileges to do clinicals at the hospital, can jeopardize your schooling.
I agree.

I KNOW this is a generational thing but I am ever confused by the obsession to document, and photograph, and talk about every single aspect, and moment, and second of someone's daily life.

It isn't the nursing students moment. She is a student...she didn't "deliver the baby".. her father did...she was present in the room for the birth up close and personal. It isn't her moment to document. It's the patients moment. I was overwhelmed by the first birth I ever saw but I didn't feel it was necessary to put it in my scrap book and I certainly didn't consider it MY first delivery. I was present...nothing more nothing less.

You aren't even allowed to have your report papers at home... why on earth would you be allowed to look them up on FB.

It just isn't a good idea.

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