When Your Co-Worker is a Patient

When an employee is receiving care on an inpatient or outpatient basis, they automatically inherit the same privacy rights as any other patient coming to our facility for medical treatment. It is very easy to violate an employee's privacy rights with mere gestures of concern. Sending flowers, circulating a get well card throughout your department, or even informing fellow co-workers of the employee's condition for the purpose of prayer are acts with good intentions that one would not necessarily calculate as causing any ill will or harm to the patient. Ironically, these friendly gestures oftentimes create angst for the patient because he or she may not have wanted anyone to know about his/her condition, course of treatment or inpatient status. Without first obtaining permission from the patient or the patient's family (if the patient is incapacitated), sharing information about the patient may violate the patient's right to privacy and confidentiality.

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