HIPPA question Related to Nichole ...

[Guest guest]

So while I was half asleep this morning before my shift, the TV was on

a national morning news program. They were talking about the whole

Nichole thing, and were doing a phone interview with the

EMS crew. The news anchor asked the crew if she was alive when they

got there, and they said that she wasn't. They also stated that they

worked her on the way to the hospital.

So here's my question:

There's no question who the patient is. They gave away info on her

that was (at least in my opinion) confidential. Does HIPPA's privacy

protection end post mortem? I know that Dr./Pt privilege ends at

death, but to my knowledge that can still only be shared in a

court/investigation type of thing.

A few factors to keep in mind: 1.) I was still technically asleep! 2.)

I'm a fairly new EMT that's still working on my Medic & 3.) No one

cares all that much about the case as a whole, I just thought it may

be a good " learning experience " or discussion starter...

Thanks!

Raines

NREMT-B

[Guest guest]

The following comments are general in nature and should not be taken as being

critical of any individual.

My interpretation of HIPAA is that it applies to individually identifiable

healthcare information concerning a patient and can only be released for

purposes of healthcare, payment, and healthcare operations.

There are exceptions for exigent situations involving homeland security and

law enforcement matters.

There are no exceptions that I can think of that would allow an EMT to give

out information to the media without authorization from the person who has

the authority to do that, which would be the patient's legal representative.

Since it would be unclear who that is, it seems to me that any release of

information by EMTs would have been unauthorized.

It is true, generally, that one's right of privacy ends at death. However,

HIPAA applies to the information, not the person.

The information released is not really that sensitive, and to my knowledge,

CMS has never fined anybody for a disclosure of this sort.

One other thing to keep in mind. There may be conflicting state laws

providing for release of certain information that may conflict with HIPAA.

Therefore, the EMTs may have been following state law, or thought they were.

Please note that I am basing my statements on hearsay, and the facts may be

other than as presented.

Gene Gandy, JD, LP

>

> So while I was half asleep this morning before my shift, the TV was on

> a national morning news program. They were talking about the whole

> Nichole thing, and were doing a phone interview with the

> EMS crew. The news anchor asked the crew if she was alive when they

> got there, and they said that she wasn't. They also stated that they

> worked her on the way to the hospital.

>

> So here's my question:

> There's no question who the patient is. They gave away info on her

> that was (at least in my opinion) confidential. Does HIPPA's privacy

> protection end post mortem? I know that Dr./Pt privilege ends at

> death, but to my knowledge that can still only be shared in a

> court/investigation type of thing.

>

> A few factors to keep in mind: 1.) I was still technically asleep! 2.)

> I'm a fairly new EMT that's still working on my Medic & 3.) No one

> cares all that much about the case as a whole, I just thought it may

> be a good " learning experience " or discussion starter...

>

> Thanks!

> Raines

> NREMT-B

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Can you imagine trying to keep a lid on what happened? This story took Iraq,

Iran, Obama, the Speaker and her plane and pretty much everything else off the

front page. Add to that the fact the ANYONE who may have ANYTHING official to

say is getting pounded by the media to say something and I think one of two

things will happen. Either you seek your 15 minutes willingly (ala Prince Von

A*Hole who is claiming possible patenity for the half billion dollar baby) or

you cave in to the relentless onslaught and give an interview to a carefully

selected media source. I don't know which case it was with the EMS Captain who

has confirmed that (1) she was unresponsive when they arrived (2) Narcan was

used w/out any change in her condition (But I haven't heard why it was

selected... was there just cause or was it a shot in the dark so to speak) (3)

CPR was used and attempts at pacing were not successful and (4) she was DOA at

the hospital. Perhaps a more interesting question is if she

were obviously dead, why transport? But that is another thread. It is safe to

say the the Las Vegas EMS service was getting thousands of calls, the individual

crew members were getting called and probably had media at their houses. So pick

your poison.

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