HLC and privacy rights

by StarTrekAngel 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  rebel8

  you respect the law. The problem is that in the name of "Jehovah", many JWs will violate the law

  And that is why there are Health Information Privacy and Security Officers.

  I was one in the past. I set up triggers when a person looks at an account with their same last name, same address, same phone #, is listed as next of kin, or is flagged as a VIP. I would investigate each one. I fired somebody for altering her daughter's financial info, for example, less than 24 hours after she did it.
  

  I also did audits when a patient was the subject of media coverage--there would be a rash of people who suddenly had to look up that particular individual, though they were not currently involved in the case. They got disciplinary action.

  I audited when a patient had something "interesting" going on that would spark snooping.
  

  These are pretty standard safeguards in the US, which I'm sure StarTrekAngel knows all about. Dubbies can't get away with it as easily when there is an electronic medical record.
  
• 

  schnell

  I know of one case in which a young woman "was found to have had" an abortion, and apparently a sister who worked at the hospital is the one who found out. Now this thread has me even more suspicious of what happened there.
• 

  Landy

  If someone accesses medical records or passses medical info on to any third party then they should be sacked, or if they are a nurse or doctor then they should be struck off. I'm sure the US will be the same, but if it happened in the UK, the nurse would be removed from the NMC register and would not be allowed to work as a nurse any more.
  
• 

  biblexaminer

  
  an hour ago

  If someone accesses medical records or passses medical info on to any third party then they should be sacked, or if they are a nurse or doctor then they should be struck off. I'm sure the US will be the same, but if it happened in the UK, the nurse would be removed from the NMC register and would not be allowed to work as a nurse any more.

  Sounds good. But in reality, how are you going to prove it? There is a local elder here who works at the hospital as a bigshot nurse. He would find out the "stuff" and you would get destroyed. Nothing would happen to him. Nothing could be proved. And the mighty ORG would crush you even harder if you tried to turn him in.
• 

  Landy

  As I say, I'm not sure how it works in the US, but here if you suspected a nurse or doctor had acted in that way you would raise a complaint with the NMC who would undertake an investigation, IT records would be obtained and that person would be investigated and questioned. It still might be difficult to prove but they would have to tell outright lies to get out of it.
• 

  rebel8

  If someone accesses medical records or passses medical info on to any third party then they should be sacked, or if they are a nurse or doctor then they should be struck off. I'm sure the US will be the same

  On Page 1 I posted a link to the rule about giving basic info to clergy and visitors in the US.

  It is legal.
• 

  JeffT

  I work in a 28 day residential recovery center. We are not allowed to give out any information about a patient, unless they have authorized us, in writing, to give information to that individual. Violating that rule leads to instantaneous dismissal. I'm not sure if that's HIPPA, Washington State law, or company policy; I'm not going to do it.
• 

  StarTrekAngel

  So, in a nutshell, If people sued hospitals more often over violation of privacy rights, this would potentially stop. Not that this is 100% the hospital's responsibility but they sure could help the situation in some cases may be even save a life.