Physician/Nurse-Patient Privacy

Luvgcz's Avatar
Do I have the same expectation of privacy with a nurse as I have with a physician?

Thanks for comments.
  • oeb11
  • 10-14-2013, 06:56 PM
Yes
Complaints http://www.bon.texas.gov/about/complaint.html
Texas State Board of Nursing for violation of patient confidentiality
Also- to the employer/hospital.
100%. I am a Texas licensed RN for over 20 years. This is heavily drilled into students during training and is typically reinforced in most facilities' required annual training activities.
General Feuerbacher's Avatar
yo Luv, i love H.G. Wells. i had hoped this was hot nurse session.
Yes. It's called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA. The very whisper of it sends chills up the spine of anyone who works in health care. No insurance required.
TexTushHog's Avatar
Well, yes, the way you asked the question. However, there has to be a doctor/patient or nurse/patient relationship (or at least the expectation or forming one). If you go up to a nurse in the produce section of the grocery store and blurt out something, it may well not be privileged. But in the context of getting or seeking care in a health care setting, the answer is yes, with very few exceptions, most related to public safety.

Confidentiality can also be breached if the provider believes that the patient is a victim of domestic abuse or child abuse. There are also exceptions for bio-terrorism and public health emergencies such as epidemics. If any of these exceptions are met, the disclosing provider is supposed to notify you of the disclosure unless such notification would place you in eminent danger of substantial physical harm.

These exceptions are from memory, so the exact wording may not quite track the statute or the regs, but you can get the drift of the law from this.
If any of these exceptions are met, the disclosing provider is supposed to notify you of the disclosure unless such notification would place you in eminent danger of substantial physical harm. Originally Posted by TexTushHog
Shouldn't that read "imminent danger of substantial physical harm"?
Well, yes, the way you asked the question. However, there has to be a doctor/patient or nurse/patient relationship (or at least the expectation or forming one). If you go up to a nurse in the produce section of the grocery store and blurt out something, it may well not be privileged. But in the context of getting or seeking care in a health care setting, the answer is yes, with very few exceptions, most related to public safety.

Confidentiality can also be breached if the provider believes that the patient is a victim of domestic abuse or child abuse. There are also exceptions for bio-terrorism and public health emergencies such as epidemics. If any of these exceptions are met, the disclosing provider is supposed to notify you of the disclosure unless such notification would place you in eminent danger of substantial physical harm.

These exceptions are from memory, so the exact wording may not quite track the statute or the regs, but you can get the drift of the law from this. Originally Posted by TexTushHog
Hahaha. You keep saying provider. Some people may get confused. Lol
TexTushHog's Avatar
Shouldn't that read "imminent danger of substantial physical harm"? Originally Posted by Sidewinder
Eminently correct!

That's what I get for still being up at 5:00 am!
threepeckeredbillygoat's Avatar
That privacy is out the window with Obamacare. The Government will be in full control.
TexTushHog's Avatar
That privacy is out the window with Obamacare. The Government will be in full control. Originally Posted by threepeckeredbillygoat
Horseshit! The ACA does nothing to modify HIPPA.
threepeckeredbillygoat's Avatar
You actually think with the federal government as the middle man between a patient and a health care provider that there will be ANY sort of privacy? Yes maybe a nurse will be held accountable for something they did wrong, but if you think the government will be held to any sort accountability for wrong doing you have got your head in the sand. Or somewhere else.

There is ZERO privacy when then government is involved. Wake up man.
Juan Pablo de Marco's Avatar
You actually think with the federal government as the middle man between a patient and a health care provider that there will be ANY sort of privacy? Yes maybe a nurse will be held accountable for something they did wrong, but if you think the government will be held to any sort accountability for wrong doing you have got your head in the sand. Or somewhere else.

There is ZERO privacy when then government is involved. Wake up man. Originally Posted by threepeckeredbillygoat
what a tool.
threepeckeredbillygoat's Avatar
Wake up man.
Juan Pablo de Marco's Avatar
Wake up man. Originally Posted by threepeckeredbillygoat
go watch some fox news old man.