Ask Me Help Desk - Is emailing a photo of recently deceased patient is a hipaa violation

My father recently passed away in an assisted living home in Florida. The aide who was taking care of him for the last 2 years took a photo with her camera just minutes after he passed and emailed it to my brother. This has been a very traumatic and unsettling event that has added much anxiety and division to my family.
I cannot believe that a worker is allowed to take pictures and send them electronically of deceased patients. There are so many ways for these transmissions to go to the wrong place or end up in the wrong hands that I have lost sleep thinking the photo of my dead father could end up on some deranaged website or some other derogatory place.
The thought of my young children or neices and nephews seeinig their grandfather like this is very unsettling and traumatic. What are my options and who is responsible for this egregious misconduct?

Thanks for your time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmailDeadPhoto

My father recently passed away in an assisted living home in Florida. The aide who was taking care of him for the last 2 years took a photo with her camera just minutes after he passed and emailed it to my brother. This has been a very traumatic and unsettling event that has added much anxiety and division to my family.
I cannot believe that a worker is allowed to take pictures and send them electronically of deceased patients. There are so many ways for these transmissions to go to the wrong place or end up in the wrong hands that I have lost sleep thinking the photo of my dead father could end up on some deranaged website or some other derogatory place.
The thought of my young children or neices and nephews seeinig their grandfather like this is very unsettling and traumatic. What are my options and who is responsible for this egregious misconduct?

Thanks for your time....

Let me say - unbelievable! Have you talked to this person's Supervisor?

You say this has caused problems within your family. Did someone ASK her to take the photo? Did someone ASK her to email it?

I don't see HIPAA violation because, technically, I don't think medical information was released. On the other hand - yikes!

I can find nothing in my research.

Truthfully I think you are too upset over this, even if it is a violation. It isn't 'transmission of medical information' but I think you could argue in court that it would be actionable. I just wouldn't pursue it unless something does come to light that is detrimental. Have you asked your brother if he asked for the picture?
As for children, I also think that children should see dead people. In most cultures (and our own until the last century) death stayed at home, bodies were usually kept on a bed (in the south often on a table) and children were a part of the whole process, which was probably healthier than the way we whisk bodies out of sight now.
And what about the poor aide, whose life and job could be ruined for what was supposed to be a kind and helpful act?

Quote:

Originally Posted by joypulv

Truthfully I think you are too upset over this, even if it is a violation. It isn't 'transmission of medical information' but I think you could argue in court that it would be actionable. I just wouldn't pursue it unless something does come to light that is detrimental. Have you asked your brother if he asked for the picture?
As for children, I also think that children should see dead people. In most cultures (and our own until the last century) death stayed at home, bodies were usually kept on a bed (in the south often on a table) and children were a part of the whole process, which was probably healthier than the way we whisk bodies out of sight now.
And what about the poor aide, whose life and job could be ruined for what was supposed to be a kind and helpful act?

That's why I'm wondering if a family member asked her for a photo. Seems odd if there was no such request.

I agree with you about hiding death but I think each parent has to make an individual decision. The other part of this is who saw the photo and who did not - it was sent to children, shared with children, something else?

If it was not asked for I find it unsettling.

Not too upset, I just know what the world is like today. How do I know what else she might have done with the photo. Once in her phone I do not know if other people have access to it and what they will do with it. The part about hiding death is not the point, it was a very unsettling photo, taken before the body was cleaned up and examined. It was a quick shot, then again how do I know how many shots she took? She is in a place of trust and obviously this trust was broken and my fathers and his families privacy was disregarded by this person.

As for someone asking for the photo, if another family member NOT the POA did ask for it... she STILL should not have taken it. If I asked a nurse, aide, doctor or administrator to do something that is against HIPAA and the law, they would not do it. I don't care if she was "doing a favor" for that person, she should have said NO. It doesn't matter that someone might have asked her. If she would have asked her supervisor if she could take a photo and email it... what do you think that answer would have been?

Once this photo was taken it was out there in the open domain and anyone can see it. No child has seen the photo I think, but now there is the real possibility that one of them could. How devastating for a young child to see that unsettling photo when previously the only memories they had of their grandfather was of him at a better time. BTW it is not only the children that I fear seeing the photo but other family members that might not be strong enough to see something that disturbing. Like I said it was a very unsettling photo of him only minutes after he passed.

I AM NOT too upset, but I am upset and very disappointed in the actions of this women who was in a place of trust and took it upon herself to break the law.
The pain and suffering due to the loss of my father now has this added complication when my family and I should just be mourning and celebrating his life.

I appreciate your answers and thoughts and am not upset with any of your replies. Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by EmailDeadPhoto

Not too upset, I just know what the world is like today. How do I know what else she might have done with the photo. Once in her phone I do not know if other people have access to it and what they will do with it. The part about hiding death is not the point, it was a very unsettling photo, taken before the body was cleaned up and examined. It was a quick shot, then again how do I know how many shots she took? She is in a place of trust and obviously this trust was broken and my fathers and his families privacy was disregarded by this person.

As for someone asking for the photo, if another family member NOT the POA did ask for it...she STILL should not have taken it. If I asked a nurse, aide, doctor or administrator to do something that is against HIPAA and the law, they would not do it. I don't care if she was "doing a favor" for that person, she should have said NO. It doesn't matter that someone might have asked her. If she would have asked her supervisor if she could take a photo and email it...what do you think that answer would have been?

Once this photo was taken it was out there in the open domain and anyone can see it. No child has seen the photo I think, but now there is the real possibility that one of them could. How devastating for a young child to see that unsettling photo when previously the only memories they had of their grandfather was of him at a better time. BTW it is not only the children that I fear seeing the photo but other family members that might not be strong enough to see something that disturbing. Like I said it was a very unsettling photo of him only minutes after he passed.

I AM NOT too upset, but I am upset and very disappointed in the actions of this women who was in a place of trust and took it upon herself to break the law.
The pain and suffering due to the loss of my father now has this added complication when my family and I should just be mourning and celebrating his life.

I appreciate your answers and thoughts and am not upset with any of your replies. Thanks

The Power of Attorney dies with the person - that POA was a meaningless piece of paper the minute your father died.

I just can't get over this. I just can't! My husband died several years ago and I was upset because my stepdaughter called to check on his condition following his death, when I was still there with his body, and the Nurse said she couldn't find him on the computer system; oh, wait, apparently he's been moved... or something. My stepdaughter knew immediately and was more than a little angry that she had to hear the "news" from the Nurse and not me. I did understand and I still do but, as I say, I was standing there, still holding his hand.

But a photo? I'd be livid unless, of course, someone asked her to take it. But even then, why?

I think I was too hasty to shrug this off as a bit trivial. I get very upset just seeing sites on Facebook tell me that my dad (who has been gone 14 months) 'likes' something about them. I too get livid. (I keep his name on there because we family bring him up at times and even talk to him.)
So I apologize, and hope you find out what your brother did and how exactly this all happened.