Listen to this articleThe story comes from The Dessert Sun, a newspaper located in Palm Springs, CA reporting on a story all the way in Tennessee.
An EMT in Roane County, Tennessee responded to a call at a residence where a person needed emergency medical help, along with several other first responders and the fire department. After the call, the EMT is being blamed for posting an insensitive post on Facebook (even though there is no trace of this post not even a screenshot) about this particular call being the first he has work in an unusual location. The Facebook post read, “well, we had a first … We worked a code in a chicken coop! Knee deep in chicken droppings.”
There was no mention of an address or name but the EMT is still under fire because of his post. The County Executive, Ron Woody and the County Attorney said this was probably not a HIPPA violation.
In a nutshell, HIPPA prevents Medical staff from disclosing medical and patient information to 3rd parties without the consent of the patient or guardian.
Where the EMT didn’t violate the HIPPA law in any way and disclose any personal information about the patient, the news articles covering this story certainly disclosed the person’s name, location, and medical condition when the patient’s wife, Kathy Raymond, publicly aired the situation instead of directing any grevience directly with the company the EMT is working for or County Officials.
The EMT was probably sensitive to the situation, at the time, while in the presence of the patient’s spouse but should the EMT be condoned for his post?
It seems like Ms. Raymond is looking for her 15 minutes of fame and she certainly got it, but at what cost? By telling her details to the reporters she did exactly what she’s blaming the EMT for supposedly doing, but didn’t actually or illegal do.
Ms. Raymond not only wants the EMT disciplined but fired. The article even quotes Ms. Raymond as saying that she wants the EMT prevented from ever working as an EMT again.
The moral and outcome of this article, if you don’t want your family’s details known to the public, keep your mouth shut and direct any grievance to the appropriate County Official or the company the employee is working for.
You can read the original article at the link below or a quick Google search.