Oh I Wish I Could Post
Seriously, stuff like this is true, and how I so wish to post it, but I can’t, ’cause of the HIPAA. (via Nurse Kelly)
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This is a medical weblog--a collection of thoughts about medicine, medical training, and health policy--written by a fifth-year medical student.
I recently stopped blogging, as I graduated from medical school and I'm now a physician in my residency training in New York City. But feel free to read and enjoy!
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How is anonymously trash-talking someone’s camo pants and santa hat combo a HIPAA violation?
If someone is wearing something very unique or identifiable, it can be a violation of their privacy as others could recognize them and the fact they were at the hospital.
If you think that is unique and identifiable in San Fran, you’ve obviously never been there.
My policy about blogging is if there’s any chance a story could be tied to a patient, I just won’t tell it. Not because I’m scared of HIPAA, but because I believe patient privacy is important.
You just posted a picture of a glove that has a pretty detailed and horrific medical history scribbled on it that would only apply to a small percent of the population. Just sayin’.
HIPPA debate aside, that Craigslist post is awesome. It reminds me of why I love the SFGH patient population. Thanks for posting the link for those of us who don’t get on “Best of Craigslist” as much as we might like.
But no patient identifiers, Kelly.
The rule is on “patient identifiers” is difficult to interpret.
How many diabetic AIDS patients are there who also have stage 4 cancer and used an ambulance for a fall over the weekend? There’s probably only one person in the United States that meets that criteria.
I don’t think your glove post is a HIPAA violation, but it’s more than talking about “crusty black women” or “CrackheadCelebguru” or whatever as they did in the Craigslist post.
Oops, didn’t close my tag. Sorry.
Maybe this is my wrong-headed and idiosyncratic HIPAA interpretation, but I took identifiers to mean things that would identify someone to people they know, or people on the street. So, a purely medical case description, if you leave out age, sex, race/ethnicity, doesn’t count as identifying in most cases. Even if it was a truly unique medical descriptor, like (hypothetically) “that person who got rabies from Paris Hilton’s dog,” you could talk about how all the medical details you want and it wouldn’t identify him to someone else as the guy you’re interviewing for a job, or your neighbor, or a presidential candidate.
That’s my understanding as well, LadyGrey.