This one is a little morally complicated. There’s a girl I know that just started an internship at her local hospital near her college. We went to school together from middle school to high school, the entire time I knew her she was a bully. With that being said, I don’t want to turn her in just because of that reason. Today she posted a Snapchat on her story. It was picture of one of the patient’s charts. She did a really shitty job of marking out patient info but you can still clearly see some of the information. I know that violates HIPAA and honestly it makes me super uncomfortable to know that someone who would do that wants to become a doctor. Especially since she did it because she was making fun of the patient. I’m at a moral crossroads because I want to turn her in because she’s a shitty person, not just for patient safety. Should I turn her in and if I did, what would be the consequences of what would happen to her?
EDIT: This is in North Carolina, United States
EDIT II: First of all, thank you so much to everyone for the advice. Mostly all of it has been sound, I have decided that I’m going to move forward with submitting this to the right people. She put it on her story and it is still up, I have taken a screenshot without her knowing. There’s a way you can screenshot snapchats without alerting the person that you have done so. I’m going to have to do a little digging to find out what hospital she’s at, I do know the college she attends though and I will be contacting the college as well. Any more advice is still welcome, again thank you so much for all of the help!
EDIT III: Sorry for all the edits guys but I just wanted to give a quick update and also some more insight. First of all, the girl and I have no kind of relationship. We are not friends. Second of all, my moral dilemma is that reporting her will definitely impact her career in some kind of way. I know it is her fault but it will become my burden as well knowing I may have just ruined someone’s life. Third, the Snapchat that she put up gave the patient’s age, what procedure was done, and questions that the patient asked about post surgery. Also to give a little hindsight about what kind of person she is, the patient has cancer. She tried to mark out the surgeon’s name but it was such a bad job that I was able to find the surgeon and where she works at searching only once. At this point the advice I am asking for now is what department should I ask for whenever I call the hospital and the college since I now have the hospital she is interning at. Thanks again for all of the help!
hippiemed on October 17th, 2018 at 04:32 UTC »
As a nursing student that absolutely disgusts me. I knew of a girl who took a picture with a patient whose baby she helped deliver and posted it on her personal Facebook. She was immediately dropped from the nursing program and told her chances of ever being in the medical field were gone. HIPAA is no joke
Desperatelyvintage on October 17th, 2018 at 01:30 UTC »
When I was in nursing school and pregnant, I fell three or four times. The last time, I was running across a parking lot and fell HARD on my stomach, and was taken to the ER and had to spend the night on the fetal monitor. The social worker was called because I had fallen so many times to interview me and my husband.
A classmate was digging around in the ER records during her clinical the following Monday, and read my ER encounter on my chart. She then went and told everyone in my class that my husband had pushed me down in a parking lot and the nurses had to call the police. Just to note- she wasn’t in the ER, she was on the telemetry floor at the time. There aren’t any words for how violated I felt.
I wrote that novel just to say- having your private medical information accessed and broadcasted kind of feels like having your house broken into, or something. Anyone who would do that doesn’t belong in the medical field.
resilientroses on October 17th, 2018 at 00:53 UTC »
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there may have been a post on LA where a domestic violence victim’s information was shared and it was a whole thing because the abuser found her? I don’t remember the exact details or there may have been more than one post.
Now imagine LAOPs former bully inadvertently gave out a domestic violence victim’s information via that post all in the name for likes or comments on whatever platform she was using.
Not that it negates the value of anyone else’s privacy, but that’s a special kind of vapid that you have to expose someone else’s private moments in a hospital for attention.