Administrative Ethics paper

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Words: 1120
Pages: 5
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Patricia Pacheco
HCS/335
16 April 2014
Katherine Watson Administrative Ethics Paper
Introduction
Summary
The patient by the name of Doe was a being treated at a healthcare facility for a sexually transmitted disease. His privacy was violated when a nurse on staff recognized him as being the boyfriend to her sister in law. The nurse acted unethically when she used her power and authority to look up Doe’s medical records and tell her sister in law what Doe was being treated for. A string of events occurred after this to include Doe taking legal action against the facility for an assortment of reasons. The course of action taken by the nurse not only affected Doe but also the sister in law that she made contact with. Doe’s medical issue was sent via text to the sister law who in turn forwarded the text messages to Doe. Doe from there felt humiliated by the nurse. The extended family could have also been affected emotionally or mentally once they were informed of what the nurse did and what Doe was hiding or not hiding. While the nurse was only hoping to protect her sister in law, what she failed to think about is how many people would be affected by her decision.
Impact of this issue The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Lotti & Stover, 1998) entitles Doe and any other citizen in America the patient confidentiality. Doe’s right to privacy was violated when the nurse chose to divulge Doe’s medial file to a family member. Doe filed a lawsuit alleging “common law breach of fiduciary duty to maintain personal health care information, breach of contract, negligent hiring, training, retention and/or supervision of employees, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach of duty to maintain confidentiality of patients, as required under state and local health codes”, according to Freeman (2014). It was argued in court that a facility cannot be sued due to an employee who violates the fiduciary duty however at the same time it was also argued that a facility should be held responsible for lack of training on what can or cannot be shared (Freeman, 2014).

References
Freeman, D. (2014). Violation of Nursing Home Patient Privacy And Breach of Fiduciary Duty. Retrieved from http://www.floridanursinghomelawyerblog.com/2014/01/violation_of_nursing_home_pati.html
Justia US Law. (2014). Doe v. Guthrie Clinic, Ltd.. Retrieved from http://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2014/224-2.html?utm_source=Justia+Law&utm_campaign=712584cc6e-summary_newsletters_practice&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_92aabbfa32-712584cc6e-406023793
Lotti, D. L., & Stover, R. D. (1998). HIPAA regulations are issued. Compensation & Benefits Management, 14(1), 20-25. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/206601125?accountid=458

The fact is, nursing staff probably always shared private patient information with others to some degree. But such violations of trust have become more pervasive with the advent of smart phones and social media that allow individuals to instantaneously snap and share photos, observations and general musings.
It's also likely we hear a lot more about these cases because such violations are now more traceable than ever.
That's what happened recently in the case of Doe v. Guthrie Clinic, Ltd., where a question was certified from a federal appellate court to the New York State Court of Appeals, regarding corporate medical liability for the unauthorized disclosure by a non-physician who was acting outside of the scope of her employment.
(Though this case did not involve a nursing home patient, the general principals are still applicable.)
According to court records, the plaintiff (Doe) was being treated for a sexually-transmitted disease at a private medical facility. A registered nurse employed at that facility recognized the man as the boyfriend of her sister-in-law. The nurse, who was not in
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