Two PA Hospitals Cited on Privacy

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Two major Philadelphia hospitals have been cited by state surveyors for requiring all suicidal patients in their emergency departments to wear distinctive blue jumpsuits even when being transported elsewhere in the facility.
In twin complaint inspections at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and the Pennsylvania Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania state surveyors questioned workers at both facilities who acknowledged that the jumpsuits were required wear for patients at risk for suicide.
State surveyors visited both facilities on Sept. 26. Both reports were dated Oct. 23, but only were made public last week,
Neither hospital has filed an acceptable plan of correction, according to the state reports. Both are part of University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Health system officials did not respond to requests for comment.
A patient has a right to every consideration of his privacy concerning his own medical condition," the report states
"The survey team was provided with a blue jumpsuit by Employee One," the Penn-Presbyterian report states, adding that the surveyors were informed that this was the required dress for suicidal patients in the emergency department.
The health department workers were told that the use of the blue jumpsuits made it easy for hospital workers to distinguish suicidal patients from the others.
Even security workers questioned by surveyors at the facility knew that the patients in the blue jumpsuits were considered suicidal.
At the Pennsylvania Hospital, the state investigators reviewed multiple patient records in which patients considered a suicide risk had been required to don the distinctive blue garments.
The records showed that when those patients were transported to other departments, they still were required to wear the jumpsuits.
Patients deemed suicide risks "are made to understand that wearing a blue jumpsuit is not optional but an emergency department requirement," the state inspectors were told.
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