List Archives

Sat Oct 21 15:47:00 BST 2006

Hear, hear!

Ben Reynolds, PA-C
Pittsburgh, PA

--- "p.bjorn" <p.bjorn at netzero.net> wrote:

> Boy, this has taken on a life of its own.
> 
> Your question is surprising and disappointing to me.
>  The media asks
> questions which healthcare providers are in no way
> obliged to answer.  In
> this case, the nature of the press events in Florida
> leaves me confident
> that the family gave permission for doctors and
> hospital spokespeople to
> discuss his condition and injuries.
> 
> What is less clear is whether this consent was
> extended to intraoperative
> details related by other employees or bystanders. 
> For all I know, it was;
> or Mike Darwin may be a proper spokesperson
> permitted by the family to go
> chat up the case on the internet.  But the original
> post gave the flavor of
> a ccm-l member getting carried away by a cool case
> he wanted to scoop
> everyone on.
> 
> I was merely reminding us all, as I have done before
> and since, that in the
> US it is a violation of federal law to relate ANY
> protected healthcare
> information.  In American hospitals, even the fact
> that a patient has been
> admitted cannot be confirmed or denied without his
> expressed consent.
> 
> Respecting and protecting our patients' privacy by
> default is an essential
> foundation of our role as healthcare providers. 
> What if any or all of what
> we've heard about this case was done in violation of
> the patient's privacy?
> The hospital and its agents become perceived as
> camera whores, and the next
> thing you know, people with other serious illnesses
> or injuries demand to be
> taken to lesser or more distant centers to avoid
> media attention -- or they
> don't seek medical treatment at all.  What if he was
> assaulted by a street
> gangster instead of a fish?  What if he had an
> estranged lunatic ex-wife
> he'd managed to keep away from for twenty years? 
> What if his injuries were
> more embarrassing or shameful?
> 
> Mr. Bertakis, it seems to me, has suffered enough
> without fearing that a
> custodian in the OR might determine on his behalf
> what's confidential vs.
> what's news.
> 
> Pret
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Munecca1 at aol.com>
> To: <trauma-list at trauma.org>
> Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 3:38 AM
> Subject: Re: Stingray again
> 
> 
> > Hey Pret,
> > How can confidentiality be kept when its on CNN,
> Good Morning America, and
> > the Today Show??? Being that the patient is in the
>  ICU and sedated, How
> can
> > he consent to the media broadcasting it world
> wide?? I mean wasnt it just
> last
> > month that Steve die from the same incident??
> People in Australia have
> even
> > calling BGMC and inqurying about him, How can this
> be TRULY  kept quiet??
> >                     KK, Trauma ICU RN at BGMC
> > --
> > trauma-list : TRAUMA.ORG
> > To change your settings or unsubscribe visit:
> > http://www.trauma.org/traumalist.html
> >
> 
> --
> trauma-list : TRAUMA.ORG
> To change your settings or unsubscribe visit:
> http://www.trauma.org/traumalist.html
> 

List Archives

For your convenience, find the Trauma List Archive Below

Stingray again