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theothermother · Dec 17, 2008, 10:18 PM

I know of someone who is a health care provider. He told others about a patient (name and diagnosis) in a public place. It wasn't his patient but he knows about confidentiality. Is he in violation of HIPAA?

tickle · Dec 18, 2008, 06:09 AM

Well o course he is in violoation, but how can you prove it ? Its word of mouth. Are you going to the trouble of getting witnesses ?

theothermother · Dec 18, 2008, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by tickle

Well o course he is in violoation, but how can you prove it ? Its word of mouth. Are you going to the trouble of getting witnesses ?

Actually, he posted it on a public internet forum. That's the proof.

tickle · Dec 18, 2008, 09:56 AM

He will have to be reported before he does something like that again. Why didn't you say that in the first place, of course.

this8384 · Dec 18, 2008, 10:35 AM

What confidential information did he release?

tickle · Dec 18, 2008, 03:42 PM

Hi this8384, read the post, he released name of patient and medical information. That is confidential information under any circumstances. Didn't you understand that part.

this8384 · Dec 18, 2008, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by tickle

hi this8384, read the post, he released name of patient and medical information. That is confidential information under any circumstances. Didnt you understand that part.

Yes, I did understand that part. I'd like you to open up your mind a bit before getting snippy with me, please.

I asked what confidential information he released because while some information may be "confidential," that doesn't mean it's secretive. A doctor can diagnose a child as having Down's syndrome but other people can tell the child has it without the doctor telling them.

tickle · Dec 18, 2008, 04:10 PM

I work in the heatlhcare sector in Ontario Canada but the same holds true of any healthcare worker given patient information and ANY information regarding a client, name, medical history that is given to me in confidence will never be divulged by me to anyone other then a coworker I am working with regarding the same client.

The fact that the patient's name and medical history was posted on the internet is suspect to the inth degree as far as I am concerned.

Open my mind, yes its open, I have a scope of practice and it doesn't include divulging any information I have been made privy to.

Snippy, yes maybe. I can even be very rude and snippier given the opportunity.

Fr_Chuck · Dec 18, 2008, 04:20 PM

Yes, they can not give out a name of the patient and most certainly their medical condition that they have learned from their work.

Now if the persons sister told them at the grocrey store, then it would be another issue about telling it.

this8384 · Dec 18, 2008, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by tickle

I work in the heatlhcare sector in Ontario Canada but the same holds true of any healthcare worker given patient information and ANY information regarding a client, name, medical history that is given to me in confidence will never be divulged by me to anyone other then a coworker I am working with regarding the same client.

The fact that the patient's name and medical history was posted on the internet is suspect to the inth degree as far as I am concerned.

Open my mind, yes its open, I have a scope of practice and it doesnt include divulging any information I have been made privy to.

Snippy, yes maybe. I can even be very rude and snippier given the opportunity.

I'm not looking to start a war of words with you. I'm saying that there's different things to consider.

If this doctor said, "John has cancer" that's very different from saying, "John Doe has prostate cancer." Neither you nor I know the entire circumstances of this story, as we haven't seen the website and we don't know what information was released.

Why did the doctor release the information? Why did the doctor have the information if this wasn't his patient? How do we know that the patient didn't give authorization for that release? We don't. You can't possibly give an answer that will be legally accurate(as we are posting in a legal forum) when you don't have the full scenario.

tickle · Dec 18, 2008, 04:51 PM

8384, yes I do agree with you, we don't know but with all due respect to you we can't read between the lines, our answers are at face value as you will learn from reading a lot of posts and you have, I know, you are an ultra member. But chuck has agreed with the general consensus that it was an infringement on the confidentiality issue. I for one have never run into anyone I know doing this because at my employ, confidentiality is tantamount because our client base is dealt with on a day to day basis, workers see them every day, day in day out.

She didn't say it was a doctor, she said a healthcare worker (I think without going back), possibly someone working in the community who didn't feel bound by any issues. I don't know. If she ever comes back on, maybe we will find out more. Until then,.

JudyKayTee · Dec 18, 2008, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by tickle

I work in the heatlhcare sector in Ontario Canada but the same holds true of any healthcare worker given patient information and ANY information regarding a client, name, medical history that is given to me in confidence will never be divulged by me to anyone other then a coworker I am working with regarding the same client.

The fact that the patient's name and medical history was posted on the internet is suspect to the inth degree as far as I am concerned.

Open my mind, yes its open, I have a scope of practice and it doesnt include divulging any information I have been made privy to.

Snippy, yes maybe. I can even be very rude and snippier given the opportunity.

Is HIPAA also Canadian? Obviously I post on the legal board because that's my expertise, not on the medical boards, so I don't know this -

Please don't tell people what it is necessary or unnecessary on the legal thread. People answering decide what they want to know - the why part doesn't really matter. Maybe it's different on the medical threads, the auto threads, the plumbing threads.

Whether anything is appropriate is up to the moderators to decide. And, again, I'm not a moderator, nor are you.

The rude and snippy part - yes, so I noticed. :D

I did find your admission ("I am a very bad person, completely uneducated and exceptionally rude to everyone around here including you. I am not suitable for this board, so someone throw me off as soon as possible before I really get going.") to be very refreshing and candid. I personally didn't realize you are uneducated. When you posted that you work for the Red Cross in Ontario I assumed you had some education, that you didn't learn on the job.

You really should post this information in the employment section of AskMe. I will be encouraging to people who don't have degrees and are looking for employment. Not so encouraging to those who have degrees and may, in fact, to overeducated in this economy.