Where are my rights?

[RNAnonMisc, BSN]

I'm a VNA nurse....received the below from a family member today. I only replied that I would have my manager reach out to her. I REALLY had to bite my tongue. BTW, I tested positive on my 3rd day sick. The other 2 days produced 4 negative tests. I am back at both jobs after 5 whopping days off. Symptoms were only sore throat, tons of congestion and a cough mostly due to congestion. 

"we heard just last week that you tested positive for Covid and we don't want to risk exposing mom to that. We're still upset that you were here the day before you tested positive and you told me you had a bad cold. You should not have come to see my recovering mother. What put her in the hospital in the first place was a bad cough/acute bronchitis. This discharge needs to be done over the phone.  We could even FaceTime."

Sent this to my manager...I know she can't do anything but I needed to vent and she is AMAZING! We are so lucky to have her.

"What was I supposed to do?  My tests weren't negative. I didn't do it intentionally. I can't take time off every time I am congested, get a cough or a sore throat… I'm an asthmatic with a ton of allergies and 4 kids.  This is why it is wrong. I could have walked in with RSV, whooping cough, the flu or any of the other respiratory viruses out there and they would have been none the wiser. 3 patients knew it was me and whoever called PATIENT B confirmed it was me when asked. This one hurts. I feel shamed and discriminated. This family is badmouthing me while I sit here and cry".

I think this brings up alot of points. How was I to know. I am exposed daily between my jobs. I wear my PPE while working. I don't feel patients should know my PHI. Yes, I know it is covid but....

Thanks for reading. I need to vent. 

[heron, ASN, RN]

Families misunderstand medical situations and complain about them all the time. Unless they or your manager are taking some adverse action against your license or job, I don’t see where “rights” come into it.

[RNAnonMisc, BSN]

My personal health should be none of their business. HIPPA and PHI....but forget that with Covid. My personal info is now being spread throughout this building by the patients daughter. I see alot of people in this one building and the older ladies LOVE to talk. I guess it is the same as patient violence. We're just expected to accept it.

[heron, ASN, RN]

1 hour ago, RNAnonMisc said:

My personal health should be none of their business. HIPPA and PHI....but forget that with Covid. My personal info is now being spread throughout this building by the patients daughter. I see alot of people in this one building and the older ladies LOVE to talk. I guess it is the same as patient violence. We're just expected to accept it.

You have a point, there. How did she find out?

[RNAnonMisc, BSN]

4 hours ago, heron said:

You have a point, there. How did she find out?

Management says they must notify everyone I saw (no time specific policy though). They called everyone I saw the prior 2 days. Only said they were exposed. In home care..with one nurse coming out...pretty self explanatory who it was. That was bothers me the most.  I also work in a skilled nursing facility. They didn't have to say anything.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Contact tracing and notification is SOP for a number of highly contagious infections. Tb and std’s Spring immediately to mind.

Flip the script - if you were exposed to a potentially lethal infection, wouldn’t you have a right to know?

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

So sorry you're dealing with this. At some point there will be no more contact tracing and informing people of potential COVID exposures but we're not there yet. So as someone pointed out, the right to your medical privacy in this one case is still outweighed by the pandemic rules.

There are very few people dying of COVID itself anymore (in my ICU experience), there are more asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases. And, now that we're back to more common colds and viruses going around, there are going to be people testing because they have vague symptoms maybe initially negative and then coming up positive or just consistently negative because they don't have COVID. It's too bad that family is accusing you of anything other than good intent, clearly you did not do this on purpose. 

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

On 10/14/2022 at 7:44 AM, RNAnonMisc said:

My personal health should be none of their business. HIPPA and PHI....but forget that with Covid. My personal info is now being spread throughout this building by the patients daughter. I see alot of people in this one building and the older ladies LOVE to talk. I guess it is the same as patient violence. We're just expected to accept it.

I am sorry to be an internet person. But it is HIPAA. And no, it’s not just a spelling error. If you don’t know what it stands for, you don’t know what it is. 

[DaniannaRN, ASN, BSN]

I don't have advice but I just want to say I'm sorry that happened to you.  I have a side job as a contact tracer in my state (been doing it for 2 years already) and we do the exposure notifications.  We would never expect an employer to notify its employees, especially in your case where there's only 1 person (you) who could've tested positive.  An employer can call us and we would call anyone who has been in contact with the infected person to protect their privacy.  We don't even say where the person got exposed, we simply tell them that they've been exposed in the past 14 days and should monitor their symptoms.  That's how it should be all over.  Sometimes, when I call someone and let them know they were exposed, they get really angry and want to find out who it was.  Sometimes they threaten to beat the person up who they think exposed them.  For that reason alone, your employer should not have done the notification and let the health dept in your state do it.  You never know how someone will react.  At this point, my suggestion would be to get out of there, unless there's some reason why you must stay.

And you're right, if it were any other contagious disease, the family would not have known.  But with covid, it's like all privacy goes out the window.  There really needs to be a balance between protecting the public from covid and protecting the person who is positive.

[beachynurse, ASN, BSN]

15 hours ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

I am sorry to be an internet person. But it is HIPAA. And no, it’s not just a spelling error. If you don’t know what it stands for, you don’t know what it is. 

I'm really sorry, but I really don't think that your comment was necessary. We are supposed to be lifting each other up and helping each other. I really think if it was that big a deal to you, you could have given a gentle reminder about the spelling instead of being overbearing. Personally, I think that there are so many more important things to worry about, a simple misspelling is no big deal. I certainly wouldn't call the poster out like that in a public forum. 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

On 10/14/2022 at 2:46 PM, RNAnonMisc said:

Management says they must notify everyone I saw (no time specific policy though). They called everyone I saw the prior 2 days. Only said they were exposed. In home care..with one nurse coming out...pretty self explanatory who it was. That was bothers me the most.  I also work in a skilled nursing facility. They didn't have to say anything.

This is an unusual situation since you were the only home care person in the house.  Was it your employer who gave them the news or a public health employee?  They are the cause this violation of your privacy. I think you are probably over thinking this.  People move on pretty quickly since infections are so frequent.  The family is nuts to believe that they can protect their mother from any risk of infection and they are the ones behaving shamefully.  You did nothing wrong.  Don't let this fester.  Nothing in this situation is worth spending any more of your attention to this.  The world is filled with gossips and they will be immediately distracted by the next shiny object because their own lives are so trivial.