Legal Issue (Patient Privacy)

[cfaulknor]

Now I could use some clarification here...

I was taught that there are certain things you must disclose to the police.. one of which is if the injury was incurred in the commission of a crime...

Now how I take this: If Johnny Patient was taking illegal drugs in his home, he walks out onto the sidewalk and gets mugged and we take him in... We know he was illegally high, but it wasn't the cause of his injury, so we can not report it. That being said, if Johnny Patient was high and passed out and we took him in, the drugs caused it, so we have to...

I am not challenging anything, I'm honestly hoping someone can explain this to me a little further.

[Dustdevil]

My policy is, I don't tell them crap. You avoid all risk of violating HIPAA that way. Simple as that.

The cops are supposed to be trained investigators. Let them go investigate and find their own damn info.

I'm not paid to write their reports for the lazy buggers.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Playing armchair quarterback here, did you notify your service that you were answering questions regarding possibly confidential patient information?

I would have referred the troopers to your service and let them get you with the troopers and then you could answer their questions.

It would have made the troopers mad or unhappy but you should have told your service you were answering call related questions.

[Dsmittty911]

This is typical case of CYA. Let them get the dam subpeona. Once they have that you are covered for talking to them. Otherwise if they didn't see it let them figure it out on their own. I'm not saying to be rude and offensive. Just explain your position. "If I tell you that then I'm violating my code of ethics and the law.

[JakeEMTP]

Have to agree with Dust here. I don't tell them anything. If they want the info, get a supeona. Otherwise I can't ( or won't ) tell them anything. Regardless of what the pt has done or not done for that matter, is not my concern. Besides, that's what HIPAA is all about, protecting the pt.

[canuckEMT]

Now I do not answer any direct questions from local law enforcement but..( yes there is a but) if I am sitting at the counter and the officer happens to look over my shoulder and see information that might warrant him to try and get a supeona, so be it.

But if they called me on the phone, no way, I won't tell 'em nothing.

[RiderRob89]

I'd have to agree with CanuckEMT, at least partially. However, because of legality issues in NYS (paticularly in the "downstate" region" you should be extremely careful in what you tell the police. IMHO, the best approach is to have the officer w/ you while interviewing the patient, thus eliminating the need for you to be called to testify or turn over your documentation (because the P.O heard it first-hand, the courts will only need his or her testimony.)

[chazmedic]

Year and a half ago, my partner and I literally drove up on a guy who got shot and dumped out onto the street. We were actually en route to a different call and had to stop. He was laying out in the middle of the road with a crowd of bystanders around. The victim was talking when we first got there. Within a minute he was unconscious. The PD were very interested in what the victim said. The detective called me later that night and started asking me questions. He wanted to know if the patient had made any dieing statements, specifically if he ID'd the shooter. I put him on hold and called the Operations Captain. She quickly got back to me and said that anything the patient said that bystanders could have overheard is not protected information and could be repeated to the police. Anything he said in the back of the unit, out of public view, had to be subpoenaed.

[AnthonyM83]

Hmm...so if I were being transported after being shot and as my last words, I did my best to get out a suspect description, they'd have to go get a subpoena? It's not really medically related who the guy was...

[chazmedic]

Exactly, thanks to the new laws, it's all a gray area. Our policy is to turf to the supervisor. Works pretty good for us.