DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

An attempt to protect privacy devolves into a scene

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Dissent

Maintaining patient privacy is always an issue in hospitals.  In emergency rooms, it may become even more challenging.

Last week, my mother was taken by ambulance to an emergency room. To protect her privacy, I won’t say why other than she definitely needed emergency medical care and was in danger of not one, but two, types of very serious problems.  Stabilizing her on both fronts was essential if she was to live.

The emergency room was crowded.  Overcrowded, actually, as patients were on gurneys in the hall because all of the individual cubicles/rooms were occupied.

And so my mother wound up in a cubicle with only a privacy screen separating her from another patient.

The cubicle was crowded as both my mother and the other patient had concerned family members there as well as ER staff running in and out caring for both patients.

But it was when a nurse tried to preserve some semblance of privacy that all holy heck broke loose.

A relative of the other patient in the cubicle was sitting on a chair, but the chair was situated so that he could see everything going on in my mother’s side of the cubicle. When the nurse saw that as she looked up from tending to my mother, she told him that he needed to move so that he was only on the other side of the screen.

Screaming ensued.  Accusations of the nurse being nasty or hostile, calls for the hospital administrator were made loudly, and the situation escalated. Hospital security was called, and chaos surrounded the staff’s efforts to care for my mother.  As they tried to tend to her and talk to me, it had to be hard for them to concentrate on what they were doing. It was certainly hard for me to hear what they were saying over the angry shouts of the other patient and her family member.

The yelling in the cubicle went on for quite a while until the other patient was moved elsewhere to get her away from the nurse she was offended by.  Even then, the yelling and nastiness continued outside the cubicle. I’ll spare you the details.

Maybe if the nurse had worded her request a bit differently to the other patient’s family member to explain the privacy issue, this wouldn’t have happened, but maybe it would have anyway under such tense circumstances.  But who would have thought that a simple direction, intended to protect patient privacy, would have led to such a furor.

I just hope that the nurse in question continues to look out for patient privacy despite the unpleasantness the other day and kudos to her for trying to protect her patients’ privacy  in the midst of difficult conditions.

No related posts.

Category: Uncategorized

Post navigation

← Casey Anthony Jail Video: Florida Judge Releases Controversial 2008 Footage
UK: NHS trust lost 800 patient records on unencrypted memory stick →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Russia Jailed Hacker Who Worked for Ukrainian Intelligence to Launch Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure
  • Kentfield Hospital victim of cyberattack by World Leaks, patient data involved
  • India’s Max Financial says hacker accessed customer data from its insurance unit
  • Brazil’s central bank service provider hacked, $140M stolen
  • Iranian and Pro-Regime Cyberattacks Against Americans (2011-Present)
  • Nigerian National Pleads Guilty to International Fraud Scheme that Defrauded Elderly U.S. Victims
  • Nova Scotia Power Data Breach Exposed Information of 280,000 Customers
  • No need to hack when it’s leaking: Brandt Kettwick Defense edition
  • SK Telecom to be fined for late data breach report, ordered to waive cancellation fees, criminal investigation into them launched
  • Louis Vuitton Korea suffers cyberattack as customer data leaked

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • On July 7, Gemini AI will access your WhatsApp and more. Learn how to disable it on Android.
  • German court awards Facebook user €5,000 for data protection violations
  • Record-Breaking $1.55M CCPA Settlement Against Health Information Website Publisher
  • Ninth Circuit Reviews Website Tracking Class Actions and the Reach of California’s Privacy Law
  • US healthcare offshoring: Navigating patient data privacy laws and regulations
  • Data breach reveals Catwatchful ‘stalkerware’ is spying on thousands of phones
  • Google Trackers: What You Can Actually Escape And What You Can’t

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.