Nurse Risks Job, Posts Photos of Brain Surgery on Facebook
When will people learn? Stop posting stupid stuff on your Facebook page. The constant barrage of idiots losing girlfriends and jobs because they haven't learned the fine art of self-censorship on social networking sites is unnerving. Let us spell it out for you one more time -- employers will look at your MySpace/Facebook/Twitter/etc. page.We thought maybe after the tale of Kevin Colvin, who was caught in a lie about a hedonistic Halloween party, people might be a little more cautious, but no. Then, we figured the story of Ashley-Paul Robinson publicly embarrassing his team would make Facebookers pause, or at least the extended jail time handed to Lara Buys would have inspired some careful consideration before posting photographs.
Alas, no. It seems many of us just haven't learned the lesson. So, lets add yet another tale of easily avoidable Facebook follies to the list. An as yet to be identified nurse in Stockholm, Sweden, lost her job after posting pictures of herself taken while assisting brain surgery. The photos included images of her holding and posing with unidentified pieces of the patient's body.
The photos violate both the hospitals policy against cameras in the operating room (unless specifically sanctioned for education purposes) and ethical codes meant to protect patient privacy. The nurse has been suspended and hospital officials are currently weighing whether to terminate her and/or report her to police.
Hopefully, this will be the last lesson you'll need to learn before finally taking a little more care with what you post online. Class dismissed. [From: Telegraph]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cheese Whiz said 10:25PM on 8-20-2008
Stupidity knows no bounds.
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swanherd_2 said 10:47PM on 8-20-2008
Oh my. Terminating her seems to be a bit radical. I hope they don't do more than terminate her job.
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robyn lefever said 10:57PM on 8-20-2008
being a nurse i am floored she would do such a thing. first off she should be sterile for surgery so she shouldnt be handling anything but the instruments to assisnt the surgeon, the second part is what was she thinking about the ethics of this.
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Carolyn Bond said 11:28PM on 8-20-2008
Good, that was too stupid of her. She should be horse whipped as well...
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Beverly said 11:44PM on 8-20-2008
Here is an educated nurse doing something so heartless and cruel. She does not deserve that title Nurse.
If that were my surgery I would be terrified of seeing it on the web. Seeing it at all would bother me. Think about the patient here. She was cruel and should never work in a surgical atmosphere again.
Just imagine if it were your surgery or a family members, how would you really feel.
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Beverly said 11:47PM on 8-20-2008
What she did was risk tha patient life. There is a real cauise of infection in there. She took an oath and should stand by her oath or get out
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L said 11:46PM on 8-20-2008
What about everyone else in the room? Someone had to have seen her doing it, or maybe they even took the photos. Or was everyone on lunch break?
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Eleanor Peters said 12:30AM on 8-21-2008
Mistakes occur all of the time in hospitals. I am a diabetic and cannot drink and DON,T. Yet it came up in my blood work I had o,7 alcahol in my blood. Anothe time it came up in my blood workI had seizures and I have never had one. I write for copys of all my hospital stays as accidents do happen and you never are told this. I showed my dr and he did nothng.. but said I know you do not drink. Nice going huh ? Why would any one say any thing to this nurse for taking pictures Thousands of mistakes are made every year. aaaaaalthough this was no mistake. Send for your copies and make sure none have been made on you. The hospitals are not as safe as you think. It,s all about money honey. Even nurses,
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XSemperIdem5 said 12:38AM on 8-21-2008
If I were the patient, I would be calling my lawyer right about now.
The rest of the medical staff in the O.R. should also receive a good lecture on ethics from their Chief of Surgery.
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FLLady said 12:58AM on 8-21-2008
Well I guess she was going to see how long it would take before someone noticied. You can do a search on these sites & find just about any pic you want. Send her back to medical school for the classes she missed on not endangering her patients for her own goals.
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james cotton said 3:39AM on 8-21-2008
Thats kewl...one time I took a pick of me acting like I was biting into the patients small bowel. AWESOME!!
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barbara said 1:01AM on 8-21-2008
It is really scary to know nurses with a huge lack of intelligence are let loose in hospitals. I feel sorrry when a person of this caliber gives a bad name to all those doing a good job of caring for their patients. I hope she is fired, as she is a danger to patients...................
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nancy said 1:03AM on 8-21-2008
so where's the pics?
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JETCHARTER1 said 1:41AM on 8-21-2008
HAVE THE PATIENT CALL ME , I'VE GOT AN ATTORNEY WHO WILL END THE NURSES CAREER, OWN THE HOSPITAL AND SET THE PATIENT UP FINANCIALLY FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. AS FOR THE REST OF THOSE PRESENT IN THE O.R., THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE.
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Chaz said 2:00AM on 8-21-2008
She will never be fired,because the wimps in charge are liberals,and she knows it.
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Lynxx said 3:01AM on 8-21-2008
I was telling my husband the other day that this is the DOWN side of the Internet -- learning that we share this world with so many incredibly stupid people. It's absolutely disheartening. Of course, who am I to judge, so (shrug), freedom of speech and all that rubbish ... I still find it sad.
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Ed said 5:22AM on 8-21-2008
My questions are....Was she the ONLY person in the operating room? If not, why did a doctor or nurse not say anything to someone as to why pictures were being taken? Seems to me more than one person could be liable for violating a patients pivacy.
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Cearralyn said 8:31AM on 8-21-2008
EleanorPeters, this was not a "mistake." The pictures were taken on purpose. What I would like to know is why whoever took the picture wasn't punished too. Everyone in that room, except for the patient, should have been suspended along with this idiot nurse.
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Mariucchi said 10:34AM on 8-21-2008
hmmm... so all of you with yer panties in a big wad, you're gonna tell me that you'd recognize your uh... say it was your appendix ... that was being "posed with" in the pix..? And you'd recognize your completely draped and RE-draped silhouette form laying there on the table? Granted, the overall undignified "aura" in the OR (after YOU had to sign literally, your "life" away to even be in there under all those drapes) would be shocking to discover, but it goes on ALL the time... unbeknownst to the sleeping patient.. usually. When my son had his appendix removed, he came out of surgery reciting EVERYTHING that went on - he heard and remembered all the conversation throughout his surgery which was all about their income tax crap and whatever else you and your colleagues at the office would chit chat about at work.
IMHO, the ones who should be doing the suing here should be the other "professionals" that were inadvertantly involved in this classless nurse's self entertainment while on the job... that is IF they were also INthe photographs.. and if so, were even recognizable in their surgical attire. Otherwise, the nurse should be fired if for no other reason than her "job" or even her presence in the OR was OBVIOUSLY another UNnecessary expense to the hospital and therefore the patient. Bottom line - someone had too much TIME on her hands..
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MaleNurse06 said 10:25PM on 10-02-2008
As a fellow nurse myself, she should be dismissed from the nursing field and yes even jailed for breaking HIPPA rules and regulations states that in the clause. What is wrong with society is people are quick to sue, suing the nurse is one thing but to sue the hospital over it, is totally uncalled for and unethical in itself, basically its just greedy. I believe if no action is taken against the nurse than the hospital board of review needs to be under a magnifying glass, but to sue is way overboard. A lot of people are afraid to go into the health care field cause we are quick targets to sue if all 'i's aren't dotted and 't's crossed.
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