Hippa?

[DwayneEMTP]

You know, for all the fun we make, and the tantrums we throw about those monitoring our grammar and spelling, I do a much, much better job posting, (and am truly grateful for that), then when I started here years ago.

Being corrected is a gift. As much fun as it is to shout down the Grammar Nazis, they do server a really important function here.

[Asysin2leads]

I don't think its a HIPAA issue, but by the same token, its not the crew's responsibility to go reporting back to the chief or whoever when they become aware of some member not behaving well even by firefighter standards. A police report of some sort was filed. Your town should have clear guidelines about sharing information when a member is arrested or charged. This was the cops responsibility. I know it is juicy gossip fodder, but its not exactly professional to go reporting to our higher ups when we find some firefighter dressed as Wonder Woman tying up another in his golden lasso. Domestic violence is another issue, because of the nature of the offense, if you have reasonable cause to believe another paramedic/firefighter can be violent, and a domestic violence case is a pretty good cause, then you may be obligated to report this fact. But if you do, it should be an official statement, not running in and saying "We saw Firefighter Roberts whipping another man with some sort of flounder or other flatfish and he seemed a little to into it." Do things the right way. You'll never go wrong.

[DwayneEMTP]

We assume that it was gossip, and it likely was. But I would almost certainly have reported it, if I had any respect for my chain of command from a, "Hey, I just heard/saw this, you may want to try and get out in front of it." point of view.

[scubanurse]

Being corrected is a gift. As much fun as it is to shout down the Grammar Nazis, they do server a really important function here.

Just saying

[DwayneEMTP]

Just saying

Exactly....

[BEorP]

We assume that it was gossip, and it likely was. But I would almost certainly have reported it, if I had any respect for my chain of command from a, "Hey, I just heard/saw this, you may want to try and get out in front of it." point of view.

Respect for your chain of command is one thing, but it could also be argued that respect for your colleagues should be equally important. It would seem that part of this respect would involve letting them being to take responsibility for their actions and be the ones to inform their superiors.

(Unless of course there is some specific reason not to, such as they were going to be showing up for a shift that night and had not gone through whatever proper channels exist to inform the employer or anything else like that.)

[Asysin2leads]

There's nothing wrong with saying "Chief, you might want to give a call to the police... I think one of our members got jacked up." and if he presses you just politely say "I'd rather not say, but if you want me to write a report, let me know, otherwise, PD should have all the information you need." Then you're tipping off the chain of command and not running wild with what you think happened.

[thisgirlisamedic]

I don't know about up there but down Here all calls that PD or sheriff's office go on are public information, so I wouldn't be worried about the hippa side if it. I think that what was done was correct, small agencies tend to forget that everyone is a reflection of that department. We have had a lot of meetings about this at our VFD, we even have a conduct policy to sign that includes an obligation to notify someone higher up if one of our guys is seen participating in conduct in fitting of an officer. I would want to know or tell about this before it is put in the paper or embarrasses the whole department.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

[Iowa Medic]

A topic I haven't seen brought up to this point is what about the obligation you have to your future patients...

Is this person in the OP's scenerio a person you would want to care for your family/patient/friend if he is involved in not only a domestic dispute but assault on a police officer?

What responsibility do you have if this person in question assaults a patient with a behavioral or mental health issue on the next call you arrive on when you knew he wasn't the quality of person that should be caring for patients?

Edited March 9, 2012 by Iowa Medic

[paramagican]

I don't see any hippa violation if treatments/injuries weren't discussed. sounds like your supervisors need a refresher on what constitutes a hippa violation.