RN Photographs Bared Patient

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A nurse manager at a Western Pennsylvania hospital photographed and then displayed a photo of a patient's bared bottom and threatened employees with the loss of their jobs if they disclosed what she had done.
Three employees at the Highlands Hospital in Fayette County related the incident to a surveyor from the state Health Department, which recently made public a report on the matter.
The report cites the hospital for failing to treat a patient with "respectful care given by competent personnel."
According to interviews with hospital personnel the incident occurred when the nurse supervisor spotted the bared bottom patient on a monitor. The patient, whose scrotum was also visible, was in a seclusion room and was being monitored by camera.
"I was sitting with a behavioral health patient," one hospital staffer told the state inspector. "The manager was making the rounds. The manager stood to the side and looked at the monitor. The patient's buttocks were showing." the report states, recounting the description given by the hospital employee.
"The nurse manager laughed and said,"Picture is worth a thousand words," the report continued, adding that the manager then took out her cell phone and took a picture of the patient. "The nurse manager laughed and said 'You can't make this stuff up."
Other hospital employees described the nurse manager showing the picture to them along with threats.
One employee said the nurse manager showed the picture and then said, "If anyone finds out about this and I find out who did it, you will lose your job."
One of the employees interviewed said that she didn't say anything at the time because the supervisor was her boss.
"I just thought HIPPA, HIPPA, HIPPA," the employee said referring to the federal law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)protecting patient privacy rights.
In a plan of correction filed by the hospital, facility administrators said they would initiate an employee retraining program and then monitor to ensure against any future violations. The plan did not indicate what if any action was taken against the nurse supervisor.
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