Hey, there! Log in / Register
Three Boston hospitals agree to fines for letting ABC film documentary there
By adamg on Fri, 09/21/2018 - 8:45am
The Herald reports Mass. General, Brigham and Women’s and Boston Medical Center agreed to share a total of $1 million in fines for violating patient privacy during the filming of ABC's "Save My Life: Boston Trauma” in 2014 and 2015 - although the hospitals say they didn't violate patient privacy.
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
How
How do you know if you were filmed during this?i was frequently a patient at the ER during these years but was not conscious during my time there, or passed out due to the amount of pain I was in, how would I know if I was filmed or not? I don't have cable
ABC is available over the air
ABC is available over the air as it is not a cable channel. You may be able to request from whatever ER you were at details on what specific days they filmed and if you were a patient. If you are that concerned, hire a lawyer. I’m sure the ambulance chasers are lining up
Once upon a time
people were delighted if they ended up on TV. Now they sue instead.
How did they get consent?
If you're a trauma patient, you'd in no state to reason about something a hospital worker is asking you to sign. By the time you're recovered and off pain medication and in a good state of mind, it's too late for the cameras to be poking into your trauma moment.
Did they show the faces?
Hard to believe in the HIPPA and privacy era that they would show the patient's faces without permission.
I find it comical that even the license plates are blurred out on antique cars on American Pickers (antique show) and foreign plates are blurred out on the Travel Channel in Mozambique.
Problem is, they sometimes got patient permission retroactively
OCR's interpretation of HIPAA seems to be that prior authorization must be obtained from every patient. Retroactive authorization doesn't count.
So if an unconscious patient is rolled into the ER and the hospital staff start discussing the patient's condition in the presence of a film crew, that's an immediate HIPAA violation right there... regardless of whether or not the cameras are rolling.
I've watched the series and there are a lot of blurred faces in the background, which I assume are the folks who didn't sign media release forms.