A friends 24 year old daughter Lola is undergoing chemo treatment for cancer and is parilyezed from the waist down because of complications of West Nile. Lola has been hospitalized quit a lot for the treatments since she was 16. A RN that works nights felt sorry for her because no one came to visit her at night because both parents work evening shifts. This RN started having Lola call the RN husband at home and talk with him because the RN said he was a great guy. The RN then started to have her husband come and visit Lola at the hospital. Lola got attached to the RN and the RN husband. Then all of a sudden the RN files for a divorce and gets a restraining order/protection order on her husband and states in it that he has been violent with an uncontrollable temper for the past ten years then RN tells Lola not to communicate with him at all because he is dangerous. Now this has really messed Lola up mentally and phyisically because she likes both the husband and the RN wife.

I know this is very unethical of the RN and just not right. What should my friend and his wife do about this? It places Lola in a very bad spot since she has just been readmitted for more chemo and she really like the RN. The nurse told her husband just about everything on the charts to her husband and he even knew that Lola was not getting out of the hospital before Lola did. Is this a Hipaa violation and could the nurse lose her license for her actions?

Did Lola give her permission for the nurse to talk to the husband?

I don't know for sure

If Lola gave her permission, then there is no violation involved. You see, it's all about consent. When a patient gives consent, then they have waived their rights to privacy to that person.

I agree that the nurse was unethical, should most likely be reprimanded, but if Lola said it was okay for the caregivers to discuss her medical condition and treatment, then there is no HIPAA violation.

I don't see a HIPAA violation since I don't see medical details being discussed with a third party without permission. I think this may have been a slight breach of ethics, but more like an RN trying to be nice to a patient.

Asking someone to come visit, or telling a patient that they should call someone is no issue what so ever.

Telllng her husband what is in a file, may be, but then if the patient gave permission ( which is hard to tell or prove) it would not be,

Telling the husband that had been a friend of a discharge date, borderline

But what is the real issue, are you wanting to get the RN fired, most likely her charges against her ex is most likely lies, in divorce, lying against the other is amost normal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

asking someone to come visit, or telling a patient that they should call someone is no issue what so ever.

Telllng her husband what is in a file, may be, but then if the patient gave permission ( which is hard to tell or prove) it would not be,

Telling the husband that had been a friend of a discharge date, borderline

But what is the real issue, are you wanting to get the RN fired, most likely her charges against her ex is most likely lies, in divorce, lying against the other is amost normal.

---

No I don't think the RN should be fired and I did consider that she is upset with her husband. Lola had nothing but good things to say about him and that he was a nice guy. He never did anything that was out of line and in fact seemed like the nice person that the RN first said he was. The RN seems to be a very caring person and a good nurse. I am just trying to get some informed opinons on this situation so that Lola's parents can deal with this situation correctly.

I'm not sure what has to be dealt with?

I agree with Scott, what has to be dealt with Lola seems to be friends with both people. That doesn't have to stop.