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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Health Care |
Do RN's have access to anyone's private medical information? |
Here's the situation: my wife had a lesbian stalker back in college. The lesbian recently graduated as an RN from the same university's Health Science Center that my wife first saw a doctor for the pregnancy. We never told anyone the due date, but the lesbian called up my wife's brother (lesbian had the number because she stole my wife's phone) and asked if my wife is having a baby in 2 days on August 6th (Aug. 6 was the exact due date). My wife already had the baby, but it was still really weird because we didn't know how she got that information. My question is this: can an RN look up medical history for anyone they want to, or just medical history from a person at a certain hospital, or what? If so, and if she did that, this is a serious violation, and I want to report her for doing it. It's possible she could get access to your wife's information if she worked at the same hospital, but technically speaking, she is supposed to have access to the records of ONLY the patients for whom she has direct care responsbility. Someone gave her access or someone looked up your wife's medical information and shared it with the RN. There are federal HIPPA privacy laws that very specifically dictate who is to have access to records and with whom the information can be shared. If this nurse has moved on from the university hospital, it might be difficult to track her down, but you should be able to find out who gave her the information. All activities in an information system can be tracked and it would be a simple matter to track where the RN was and when and who logged onto the system and looked up your wife's information. I would file a complaint with the hospital. In fact, I would ask for a meeting with either the CEO or the DON (director of nursing). Bring your brother who can discuss first hand the phone call conversation. Explain to them the background situation (stalking) and tell them you want some action taken against the RN (if they still have some control over her) and the person who allowed her to have access to the information. Tell them you are aware of the HIPPA laws (look them up and be well-versed). You can also contact your state's nursing board and file a complaint against her. The hospital will have done their investigation by then and will know when and how she got the information. It could lead to her losing her RN license. It's imperative that you take some action against this woman because that's the only way to stop the stalking, harassment, and invasion of your privacy. Source(s): Former hospital manager and former hospital ethics and compliance officer. if the health science center had electronically scanned medical records in its database, then all it would take is a password to have access to anyone's record you would have to subpoena the information system of the health center, but there should be a record online of the stalker's use of the computer's database good luck They are supposed to have the information necessary to do their job. If she was no way involved in your wife's care, there is absolutely no reason she should have been in your wife's records. I'd report. Not only was she accessing records she had no business being in (whether or not they were readily accessible given her piosition), but she was sharing information gleened from that record with another person without your wife's permission. Since she stalked your wife back in college, was any report ever filed? the RN can look up records at the facility she is working at. If your wife was in a facility that this rogue RN is at then her records are available. the Facilities chief administrator os the person best suited to handle any complaint. be prepaired to initiate possible leading procedings for a court order of protection, just in case. An RN can access anyones medical records, usually electronically with a pass word. However they are only allowed to access information concerning patients that they are currently dealing with. Looking up details of anyone else is a breach of confidentiality and a disciplinary offence. The nursing organisation she belongs to would look unfavourably on her conduct and it is highly probable that she would be struck off the nursing register and would not be able to practice as a registered nurse. She should be reported to the HR department of her hospital immediately. report her to the center she works at. She's only supposed to have access to the people she's currently treating at the moment she's treating them or to provide follow up care. What she did is a ethical violation. |
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