Shelley Hadfield reports on a case that raises significant ethics and privacy questions: A couple so desperate for a baby girl that they terminated twin boys are fighting to choose the sex of their next child. The couple, who have three sons and still grieve for a daughter they lost soon after birth, are going…
Author: Dissent
Doctor-Patient Confidentiality in the Military
Privacy and confidentiality are not the same thing, of course, but an article by Patrick J Mclain, a court martial lawyer and retired military law judge, is worth noting on this blog. Discussing some of the allegations made in the case of Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hassan (the alleged Fort Hood shooter), Mclain notes that…
Nursing student wins Facebook placenta photo case against JCCC
Matt Campbell reports: Doyle Byrnes has every intention of resuming her nursing studies after a federal judge overturned her dismissal from the program for posting a photo of a human placenta on Facebook. The judge on Thursday shot down every argument, legal and otherwise, that Johnson County Community College had used to justify its ousting…
Nurse claims she was fired for complaining about HIPAA violations
Michelle Massey reports: A former nurse is seeking more than $15 million from a Tyler hospital alleging she was fired after complaining about employees taking pictures of sedated patients and posting the pictures on Facebook. Debbie Blevins filed suit against Tyler Cardiovascular Consultants on Dec. 22 in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. She…
MD: Patient information mistakenly recycled instead of shredded at Adventist Behavioral Health
Nesa Nourmohammadi reports: Personal information relating to several Adventist Behavioral Health patients was mistakenly recycled instead of shredded after an employee erred in how the documents were discarded, company spokeswoman Clarencia Stephen said Tuesday. Adventist Behavioral Health officials learned of the slip-up Dec. 29 after some of the sensitive documents were found scattered at the…
Thousands of stolen iTunes accounts for sale in China
Tens of thousands of fraudulent iTunes accounts are for sale on a major Chinese website, it has been revealed. Around 50,000 accounts linked to stolen credit cards are listed on auction site TaoBao, the country’s equivalent of eBay. Buyers are promised temporary access to unlimited downloads from the service for as little as 1 yuan…