Privacy expected from medical staff?

LegacyUser

I recently had a medical procedure that necessitated a week stay in a busy hospital. The only downside was that one of the staff was someone I knew from school and lets say had a less than happy relationship with. I won't go into it here but suffice to say I'd happily have gone through life without ever seeing this person again, but had to endure them during this sensitive time when I was feeling a bit vulnerable. This person would have had access to my medical file all through my stay. I've since gotten messages on FB about certain aspects of my treatment that I hadn't told friends about, these wouldn't be close friends but we live in a smallish area so people know people. I can only assume this person told others about my stay and treatment as only my partner and immediate family knew about the very sensitive details of my treatment and I know they wouldn't be the types to tell others.

Am I right to assume this person is the source of the information getting out? And, if so, what can I do? Shouldn't medical staff respect privacy, even of people they know?

Morag

Make a complaint to the hospital.

I am a friend

Print off screen shots of the comments and make a complaint to the appropriate person in the hospital.

allym

I would ask those people first where they heard it from. And if it was that person, or looks like it most likely was, then I would definitely make a compliant to the hospital or whoever is that persons senior.

That is a breach of confidentiality and will be taken seriously.

P. Breathnach

allym wrote: »

I would ask those people first where they heard it from....

Yes, but check also with your partner and immediate family that they did not let something slip.

Starokan

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Yes, but check also with your partner and immediate family that they did not let something slip.

+1 to this, be very sure that it was not your partner or family who said something to somebody.

If you can establish for certain that it wasn't then approach the hospital management

LizT

Double check with everyone that knows to ensure that they didn't say anything to anyone.

Confidentiality is a serious issue and any person working in the health system has had this drummed into them. If this person did tell other people about aspects of your treatment, they knew they were wrong and they should be reprimanded for it.

LegacyUser

Problem here is that even if a family member did leak information, and you confront them, they're unlikely to admit it was them, right?

I would make a complaint to the hospital directly. I posted here in the past about the world's biggest gossip working as a receptionist at my doctor and spreading very confidential information all over the community. It actually made her a very popular girl with the other local gossips who saw her to be a great source of juicy details.

Though I reported the girl to her current employers for a situation similar to yours, nothing was done, and she continues to pass on private medical details.

P. Breathnach

xvdfsdf wrote: »

Problem here is that even if a family member did leak information, and you confront them, they're unlikely to admit it was them, right?
...

That's possible. But it would be a bad idea not to look at all ways in which the information might have been leaked before making a complaint to the hospital.

OP is very candid about having a personal dislike of the hospital employee. Fair enough: you are not obliged to like everybody. But to me, that means that there is a need to be particularly careful before making any allegation, for fear that allegation is founded on personal dislike rather than on good evidence.

Bear in mind also that such a complaint can have a big impact on a person's career (perhaps even leading to loss of employment) so one should be sure that it is well founded before putting it on record.

crosstownk

I went for a medical procedure a couple of years ago and it turned out that the radiologist was a customer of mine from a previous job. We both recognised each other and he specifically asked me if I was OK that he conducted the scan given the fact that we knew each other.

So yeah, gather evidence and make a complaint if you feel it is warranted.

Big Bag of Chips

Even if only one other person knows, and they are your closest and most trusted friend, there is a chance that they could innocently tell someone in the course of conversation. Not in a gossipy way...

The fact that more people than this one girl knows means it would be very difficult to know for certain that it was her.

You could "off the record" contact your doctor and voice your concerns. Tell him/her that you have no proof but you are pretty sure it came from her.

curlzy

OP,

I would ask every person on facebook who told them this information. If they won't tell you, I'd say "did X, Y or Z tell you?" (XY&Z being the people who you told about it), if they say no they didn't, then it only leaves her. If that's the case I would make a complaint under Data Protection to the Hospital, if it turns out she did leak your info I'd be getting a solicitor and filing a law suit.

Best of luck.

+1 to what was said above. Surely the leaking of sensitive information like that would be in breach of the Data Protection Act?

AhInFairness

I've since gotten messages on FB about certain aspects of my treatment that I hadn't told friends about, these wouldn't be close friends but we live in a smallish area so people know people.

OP, is it at all possible that these certain aspects of your treatment are not unique to your situation and are in fact carried out for anyone who has your medical issue? What I mean is, if these people on facebook knew you were in hospital for a certain procedure could they have known, either through their own experience or from a quick look at wikipedia, what this treatment would entail?

If the treatment you received was in fact solely unique to your situation then you may be right in your assumption. If that is the case I would do as suggested above and ask these FB friends who told them and take it from there.