Taking pictures on nurses without permission

RN403, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2014

It is your picture...you have a right to feel violated, IMO. Does your facility have a policy on this matter?

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2014

Hi All,
Last night at work, one of my patient's nephew took a picture of me providing patient care to his aunt. I told him you cannot take picture of me without asking my permission. He denied taking picture but I know he did because of the flash and the clicking sound of the camera. However, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought nothing of it. Now, I am not so sure if I should feel secure as my ID badge was in full view. Am I wrong to feel violated or am I just being paranoid?

I have had this happen a few times. I just call security and let them deal with it, as normally they are able to get the culprit to show the pics and delete them. I even had one visitor taking pics of another pt (not the one he was visiting) while that person was sleeping

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2014

I am sorry this happened to you but unless specified by policy it is legal. You as the employee do not have the expectation of privacy....it is the patients room. No HIPAA here as your health information was not violated

MunoRN, RN · Aug 22, 2014

Legally speaking you are fair game as a nurse to be photographed, you have no legal expectation of privacy. The patient has an expectation of privacy and the nephew would need his aunts permission to photograph her. It may be against facility policy to photograph staff, but it's important to remember the difference between the law and a facility policy. You can't force someone to delete pictures or confiscate their phone for violating facility policy, you can only trespass them.

RNIBCLC · Aug 22, 2014

Most hospitals have a policy about this. Check yours.

Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2014

Unless it is a public place, and most hospitals are not, you have every right to privacy and not be photgraphed at work. There must be consent between you and the photographer, be it written or verbal for him to photograph you. Only in public places have the courts ruled you have no expecttions of privacy and can be photgraphed at will.

#NurseB · Aug 23, 2014

I'm sorry but I just don't think it's a big deal. I think the focus is on their family member more than you.

MunoRN, RN · Aug 23, 2014

Unless it is a public place, and most hospitals are not, you have every right to privacy and not be photgraphed at work. There must be consent between you and the photographer, be it written or verbal for him to photograph you. Only in public places have the courts ruled you have no expecttions of privacy and can be photgraphed at will.

What court rulings/precedents are you referring to? Because every one I can find disagrees with what you are claiming.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2014

You can feel violated but there is no HIPAA issue at play here. That you are an employee of this facility is not protected information.

Thimbalina · Aug 30, 2014

I've had patients family video me while going over discharge instructions. It is un-nerving. I asked them to stop and they did but it made me feel very uncomfortable. Sometimes it's hard to tell if they are just being rude by being on their phone with Facebook or if they are taking pictures and/or video. I think phones should be banned in patient care areas because of the potential for hippa violations and etc. etc. IMO. Like when I went to visit congress… they took everyone's phone at a check in center. lol. that's the kind of security we need.

MunoRN, RN · Aug 30, 2014

I've had patients family video me while going over discharge instructions. It is un-nerving. I asked them to stop and they did but it made me feel very uncomfortable. Sometimes it's hard to tell if they are just being rude by being on their phone with Facebook or if they are taking pictures and/or video. I think phones should be banned in patient care areas because of the potential for hippa violations and etc. etc. IMO. Like when I went to visit congress… they took everyone's phone at a check in center. lol. that's the kind of security we need.

Videotaping discharge instructions is actually highly recommended and has been shown to cut readmission rates by 15% as well as patient harm and death after discharge. It may make you feel uncomfortable, but that's a small price to pay for reducing a patient's risk for a bad outcome.