A Utah healthcare worker is sparking debate online this week after a person shared their story of a possible privacy violation. A concerned husband revealed that the man had contacted his wife on social media following seeing her as a patient and likely used personal information in her chart to find her and eventually contact her. Now, he’s wondering if he should be worried or if a report needs to be made.
The Utah man revealed the dilemma on Reddit this week. He says that there is a healthcare worker who takes his wife’s blood one or two times a year. However, after the last time they saw each other, the man looked her up on social media and sent her a private message.
“Phlebotomist that draws my wifes blood on occasion like maybe 1-2 times a year if that….. decided to randomly send her a friend request on FB today and then messaged her “hey how ya doing. hope i didnt hurt ya yesterday haha” which to me i took it that he used personal info he obtained from his sensitive job to find her online. and that is creepy to me. thoughts?” the post read.
The man also wondered if the healthcare worker might have violated HIPAA to get his wife’s information. Of course, plenty of other users on the forum responded to his concerns. Several claimed that it likely wasn’t a legal violation that had the man finding his wife online. However, it may have been some sort of policy violation for the facility that he works at.
Utah Man Worries For Wife’s Safety After Healthcare Worker Sends Facebook Friend Request
“In and of itself I don’t think this would be a HIPAA violation. It is very likely to still be a policy violation at his facility and definitely ethically problematic. I can say that someone working in my hospital would be disciplined for this,” one person claiming to be a healthcare administrator commented.
“I would agree this is ethically concerning,” said another.
“FB might have just done her as a suggestion and he recognized her. He still shouldn’t send her messages or friend request her though. I’d call the hospital. While it may be innocent, it may also be a guy being creepy,” a third person pointed out.
“Even if it is not a HIPPA violation, it is still likely a job HR violation at the hospital he works at. Report it,” suggested a fourth.
It seems that the Utah man is worried about his wife’s safety and wasn’t happy about a healthcare worker finding her online after their encounter. It may have been innocent, but it seems that the consensus is that it wasn’t professional. Now ,the couple will have to figure out how to deal with the situation moving forward.
