Apparently, It Really Does Need to Be Said: It’s Not OK to Post Patient Information Online

It’s unlikely anyone working in your urgent care center would post confidential patient information online, even while venting about an especially tough day at work. Unfortunately, it’s not an impossibility, however, so a timely reminder to the team may be in order. If you need evidence of that, consider a suit filed against a hospital in Oregon alleging that an employee took—and shared online—photos of a burn victim being treated there. He died of his injuries. The individual who shared the images is no longer employed there, according to an article published by Becker’s Health IT, but the deceased’s parents are still seeking $75,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from the hospital. While that’s a relatively small sum, the loss of trust and damage to the facility’s reputation cannot be quantified with any dollar amount. JUCM addressed the dangers of sharing inappropriate information, even without malicious intent, in an article entitled Don’t Post That! Protecting Patient Privacy in the Age of Social Media. It’s available right now in our archive.