Is this a HIPAA Violation?

[EMT 3209]

Earlier this year, I ran a call involving an patient who was well known in certain communities. The call was an obvious DOA (so the individual has long since deceased). The investigation around the death ended months ago and the patient's information and background (his career, etc.) was released to public for news stories. Now that I'm back at the university, I have the opportunity to present a project in one of my classes that revolves around this patient's research (the research the patient did during their career). All of this is legal, of course. The patient, prior to the incident, was a renowned researcher and has accessible files all over the web. My presentation will ONLY involve this patient's research because that's what's relevant to the class. But the main reason I wanted to do a project on this research was because it hit home for me so much, due to the fact that I ran this call. 

My main question is can I LEGALLY say that I was on scene after this individual's death? The purpose is to give reason for why I wanted to cover this research topic in that class. If the information about his death is known publicly in the news, is it a HIPAA violation for me to say that I was there? I'm not planning on giving any details about what I saw on the scene or after the scene. All of the information that I have outside of the fact that I was present after the death comes from stories that are from website articles (already released to the public). I just want to avoid any legal trouble for mentioning that I was there. Does anybody have an idea about this?

I'll also apologize if I posted this to the wrong forum. I am new here! 

 

 

[paramedicmike]

Good question.  I would not mention anything about being on scene when this individual died.  I wouldn't mention anything surrounding the details of this individual's death even though it may have been published in the media. Sometimes avoiding the perception of impropriety matters more than the legal question.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Why do you feel the need to mention you were on scene?  Does it add credence to your project?  Does NOT mentioning it take anything away from your project?  

 

If the answer to number the first question is NO and the answer to the 2nd question is NO then I think you have your answer.