what are our rights re: being filmed/recorded at work?

[ceccia]

The other day I encountered a patient with an aggressive family - I got the feeling that they perhaps are scammers looking for some kind of payout, based on the way they were acting. At one point the patient's son took out his phone and started filming the medication tech while the daughter-in-law grilled me with questions that really should have been directed to the MD (which I repeatedly stated, and offered to tell the MD that the family is requesting to talk with him). We were both uncomfortable being filmed in the patient's room, but unsure whether we had the legal right to refuse being recorded, and/or to decline giving treatments until they stopped filming us. Does anyone know of any resources that explain the legality of patients/families recording in a hospital setting? Does it vary by state? Do you have experience with patients and/or their families wanting to film or record you at work?

[Guest219794]

On 11/10/2019 at 10:06 AM, Horseshoe said:

A family member is not bound by HIPAA, so they aren't violating it when they film their loved one. Facility policy is one thing, but this isn't a HIPAA thing if it's the family who is recording their patient.

1 hour ago, AlwaysLearning247 said:

There are other patients in the hospital (not private rooms). And this person was recording everything.

Right. Still not violating HIPPA.

Visitors are no more bound by HIPPA than a tabloid that prints a story about a celebrity's lipo. HIPPA applies to health care professionals.

Of course, there are implied laws of human decency, but they apply only to decent humans.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, AlwaysLearning247 said:

There are other patients in the hospital (not private rooms). And this person was recording everything.

They might be violating hospital policy or standards of human decency. With respect to filming or recording others, they might be violating local statutes. Nevertheless, it has absolutely zero to do with violating HIPAA, because visitors and family members are NOT bound by HIPAA.

Right after promising her complete secrecy, I could go on Facebook and announce that my cousin just had treatment for Herpes at XYZ Hospital. I could tell the world that my sister just had a miscarriage at ABC hospital even though I promised her I would never tell anyone. I could Tweet that my Uncle Joe is currently recovering from hemorrhoid surgery at GHI surgery center and include a photo of said unfortunate individual.

All of those things would reveal what an *&^% I am, but absolutely none of them are HIPAA violations unless I was the professional caregiver at one or all of the HIPAA-bound facilities. As cousin, sister, and niece, I'm just being a complete jerk.

[AlwaysLearning247, BSN]

22 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:

They might be violating hospital policy or standards of human decency. With respect to filming or recording others, they might be violating local statutes. Nevertheless, it has absolutely zero to do with violating HIPAA, because visitors and family members are NOT bound by HIPAA.

Right after promising her complete secrecy, I could go on Facebook and announce that my cousin just had treatment for Herpes at XYZ Hospital. I could tell the world that my sister just had a miscarriage at ABC hospital even though I promised her I would never tell anyone. I could Tweet that my Uncle Joe is currently recovering from hemorrhoid surgery at GHI surgery center and include a photo of said unfortunate individual.

All of those things would reveal what an *&^% I am, but absolutely none of them are HIPAA violations unless I was the professional caregiver at one or all of the HIPAA-bound facilities. As cousin, sister, and niece, I'm just being a complete jerk.

I probably should have left HIPAA out of this and said my coworkers and I wanted to protect the identities of other patients. I know it’s our duty to protect all of our patients personal information. Also the fact that none of us gave this person permission to film us. Either way, personal information from other patients could have been exposed. A person should not be filming in a hospital setting, it’s so inappropriate. If they want to film a video together when no one else is in the room, go ahead. I know we can’t prevent people from doing these things, but we can kindly remind them to please not record, staff didn’t give permission, nor did the other patients who could be roaming the halls.

[MunoRN, RN]

There's an important distinction between whether filming a nurse at work is illegal or if it's against the hospital's policy.

A nurse's consent is not required for a person to film them doing their job, this does not fall under a legal expectation of privacy.

A hospital may have a policy against video recording, but the only enforcement option for that is to trespass someone for doing so, you can't tell them they have to hand over their phone to staff, much less take the phone or anything like that.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

we just assume that pts are filming us. We are told to document, document, document