HIPAA First Hand Experience Today
Don D
9,834 Posts
I took my 80-something year old mother for carpal tunnel surgery this morning and have spent most of the day doing a son's duty related to that. She received four sets of HIPAA privacy notice papers at different points in the hospital process. We were finally asked by a man to 'follow me'. He led us into a room that was a hallway of those little waiting rooms where one puts on a gown and they snatch the chained hanging sheet closed so the anesthesiologist can come by, etc. Outside the row of waiting cells or holding tanks was a long row of huge sleeper recliners against the wall for family to have a seat in. The guy who said 'follow me' handed me another HIPAA privacy paper and said to us, "You know how these new HIPAA rules are". Then he told her to have a seat right in the middle of this long row of other assorted bodies, some patients, some relatives.
He scrunched down at her knee and started reading off his lengthy questionnaire. "Have you had prior surgeries? What are your allergies? When was your last period? (I think she said 30 years ago). What medications are you taking and for what? Do you have blood pressure problems? Have you recently taken street drugs? When was your last BM? (I think that one even embarassed me. I'd never thought of my mother in that context). Do you have any disabilities? Are you an organ donor? Epileptic seizure history? Any operations to remove any sort of tumor, ever? I could not resist! When he finished his public questionnaire and got through getting all sorts of clarifications about her health issues, I said to him and the whole room full of people, "What you have just witnessed here is a direct violation of the HIPAA regulations and a violation of laws that are prohibited in all those papers you hold in your hands about confidentiality and privacy." I had already assessed in my own mind that this guy would have no role in the surgery and had no way to retaliate and I had no plans to ask him to get me a cup of water. (I guess I take the Forum with me wherever I go.)
He scrunched down at her knee and started reading off his lengthy questionnaire. "Have you had prior surgeries? What are your allergies? When was your last period? (I think she said 30 years ago). What medications are you taking and for what? Do you have blood pressure problems? Have you recently taken street drugs? When was your last BM? (I think that one even embarassed me. I'd never thought of my mother in that context). Do you have any disabilities? Are you an organ donor? Epileptic seizure history? Any operations to remove any sort of tumor, ever? I could not resist! When he finished his public questionnaire and got through getting all sorts of clarifications about her health issues, I said to him and the whole room full of people, "What you have just witnessed here is a direct violation of the HIPAA regulations and a violation of laws that are prohibited in all those papers you hold in your hands about confidentiality and privacy." I had already assessed in my own mind that this guy would have no role in the surgery and had no way to retaliate and I had no plans to ask him to get me a cup of water. (I guess I take the Forum with me wherever I go.)
Comments
I hope your mother does well with the surgery.
On a side note, I hope the surgery went well!!
Hope your mom is doing well Don. You are a good son!
My friend headed home, checked in by cell phone, to learn that someone from the hospital had called her house and left a message with her 13-year old daughter that her friend had died (!). When we went to the wake and met the family, it was a relief to know that they at least had been on hand, but since they didn't know us and we didn't know them, we didn't get notified of her death.
This story has caused everyone i've spoken with to vow to have instructions available about informing folks of their condition if they're in the hospital. Clearly this hospital had not yet figured out how to handle dispensing information to the public, and they certainly heard from us how they botched this. Something as simple as getting permission from the family to refer inquiries to one of them would have made all the difference. I'm guessing they have something better in place now.
I am a cancer patient and to this day, my attending physician only gives me "needs to know" information. I have begun to question why certain results/tests are given and the results, including medications.
ps...Hope all went well with the surgery...
My mom who is the caretaker for my dad called to get a test result for him and was told nothing could be told to her over the phone. She had to get off work, go home, bundle up my dad and take him to the doctor's office to sign some privacy papers in order to get a test result she had gotten a dozen times before.
On the flip side,I called my primary care physician and told the office staff I wanted to make sure I had signed privacy papers for my husband and he had signed them for me. They really didn't know what I was talking about. I faxed them a copy of the release that we have our patients sign. My husband had an appointment that day and our doctor told him to tell me not to worry...if I needed to know something about my husband...she'd damn well tell me! (I like her style!).
Anyway....I am sure we have not heard the last of these regulations being modified, which I hope will be for the better.