Posted on 03 August 2010.
Hospital fires a nurse over Facebook comments
Oakwood Hospital let a nurse go for posting remarks about a suspected cop-killer in her care. Per the dismissal:
“As healthcare providers, we have a legal and ethical responsibility to protect patient privacy and we are bound by HIPAA rules and regulations to ensure that we do so. All of our employees are trained and expected to protect patient information. This means keeping details confidential that might make it easy to identify a patient even if his or her name has not been revealed. That’s why disciplinary action, even termination, may result from sharing information about patients inappropriately in any public forum or setting.
While we cannot discuss specific details regarding any current or former employee, we all have a legal and ethical responsibility to put our personal opinions aside and provide the care required for any patient who has entrusted us with their health.”
The kicker was that the patient’s name was not revealed by the nurse, but by the news media. Where is the line between personal and professional in healthcare? Does this imply that HIPAA extends beyond the borders of the hospital but even into the homes of practitioners?
About Paul Griffiths
Paul has been CEO of MedTouch since April of 2007 and, prior to that, held the position of COO. As a co-founder, he has helped set the vision for the company from its inception. Paul is an active speaker in the healthcare marketing community. In addition to the dozen webinars MedTouch presents each year, Paul can be seen and heard giving lively talks around the country about helping healthcare organizations succeed online: from New England (NESHCo), to Tennessee (TSHPRM), Florida (FSHPRM), and Las Vegas (Annual Healthcare Internet Conference).
Prior to MedTouch, Paul managed online brand experiences for a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He has over 15 years of combined experience in online commerce, interactive marketing, experience design and content management solutions. Most notably, he directed the consumer-facing channel for the now defunct Send.com, an online gift delivery network that raised $45 million from such VC luminaries as Greylock, Highland Capital, Benchmark and Charles Rivers Ventures in the late 1990s.
Paul earned a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College.
When he’s not traveling across the country to visit clients or to speak at healthcare conferences, Paul runs a humanitarian non-profit with his wife. He’s thrilled to finally have a yard for his dogs and two boys, and often daydreams of spending a summer in Iceland.
