Question about hospital policies, urgent please!

[Notnemore1985]

I'm going to reword my question from earlier, so as not to violate guidelines. I'll make it short and sweet.

I work in the medical field and am an opiate addict. If I were to need to go to the ER and had to disclose my opiate use for the sake of my health would this disclosure be protected under HIPPA? Or would the information be passed along to my bosses, possibly ending my career.
All of the hospitals in my area and network are branches of the hospital I work at so I do not have the option of going to a hospital or even a doctor that is not associated with my employer.
Any knowledge on this subject would be greatly appreciated as I think I may need to make an ER trip.
And you would think I know the answer to this quesyon better than anyone, but I do not. It's not something I've ever been instructed on or heard about in my years at the hospital.
I know patient records are extremely confidential and that looking at the chart of ANYONE you are not directly taking care of can be cause for immediate termination. However I don't know if an exception would be made if it were discovered that an employee were using. Especially one with access to medication every day. TIA

 

[Kittycat5]

Yes its protected but people see and talk. You would open yourself up to scrutiny in my opinion but you need to decide whats best for your health.

Tbh, Im not 100% comfortable leaving this thread open still but will give the benefit of the doubt.

 

[keeping]

i've always wondered about this as its a pretty classic rebel doctor trope (nurse Jackie, Dr. House at the further end of the spectrum HArold Shipman), would be interested to hear about this from so medical professionals.

 

[T. Calderone]

I would go anyway if you're hurting or try your primary care doctor first for some diagnostics. I saw your other thread and recently had the same problem. It might look sketchy if you went in there asking for narcotics but you are not. They would be checking your urine for bacteria to see if you have an infection. Don't put this off because you're afraid, take care of yourself!

 

[BambooHut]

Oh how I remember the fear of being found out.

Addiction holds us prisoner in so many ways.

Unless you have a legitimate Rx that would account for opiates in your UA, going to the ER could negatively impact your career. Don't know for sure, just my guess.

Take care of yourself, Notnemore, and if you get through this crisis without getting caught, promise yourself that you'll stop abusing.
It took getting caught by my local pharmacist to get me to stop pill chasing. I got off easy considering he could have pressed charges but didn't. Talk about being "scared straight"!

I went back later and thanked that pharmacist. He probably saved my life and my reputation. I'm free of addiction today because he did the right thing by calling me out. I'm also grateful he had a heart and didn't have me arrested.

Best of luck. Leave that shit behind and don't look back.

 

[Emptty]

If you need medical care you should get it, I can't promise 100% nobody will talk but if they do they are breaking the law. Information about your drug use would be protected by confidentiality law in the US when disclosed to a doctor. Chances are you're safe to go to the ER and it's important you take care of yourself if you're sick.

 

[Notnemore1985]

Thank you all for the fast responses. I'm feeling better today so will most likely he able to wait for an appointment with my PCP.
And I do want to be free from this. The things I see. The ruined lives, mothers burying their daughters. Brothers burying sisters. I'll never forget one OD we had. The narcan "brought her back" but it was too late for her brain. She was a vegetable and would never come out of it. Someone had come in and placed a picture of her two young sons, younger than my 2 older sons, in her hands. Every time I had to go in there to check on her, start a tube feed, change her, turn her, I saw myself. I'm going to be free from this. I will be.

 

[Bearlove]

If you need medical care you should get it, I can't promise 100% nobody will talk but if they do they are breaking the law. Information about your drug use would be protected by confidentiality law in the US when disclosed to a doctor.

I don't think this is correct - the code of ethics has exceptions (duty of care, duty to warn, duty to protect) - a doctor can legally share your information if he/she thinks that by not doing so would put a person/persons at risk (Tarasoff). Now it would be upto the doctor to asses if the person was a risk to others.

 

[Emptty]

I don't think this is correct - the code of ethics has exceptions (duty of care, duty to warn, duty to protect) - a doctor can legally share your information if he/she thinks that by not doing so would put a person/persons at risk (Tarasoff). Now it would be upto the doctor to asses if the person was a risk to others.

I've walked up to doctors and told them I planned to kill myself then walked out of the office on my own an hour later, I've even gone in with self-inflicted injuries and been allowed to leave once they were stitched up. In none of these cases the doctors felt the need to inform anyone else of what I had done or intended to do. You are correct if someone is considered a danger to themself or others confidentiality can be breached however the bar for what constitutes danger is extremely high and substance abuse w/o intent for death doesn't qualify. If a doctor breaks confidentiality for that they have a very poor understanding of the law.

 

[Notnemore1985]

It's honestly not even the doctors I would be worried about. I honestly think they could care less. It's more nurses, aides, lab even. I've worked there for years. They all know me. Doctors don't. Honestly, they do less in the hospital than any other person employed there. The nursing staff is front line for the patients. The only time we ever breach confidentiality is in suspected cases of abuse towards someone with diminished capacity. Whether that be because they are a child, elderly, MR, whatever. We don't even report spousal abuse unless the patient asks us to.
I'm thinking I'm going to find a sneaky way to just flat out ask. It'll be a hypothetical situation of course in my question. And see what I can find out that way.

 

[Keif' Richards]

This isn't really an "urgent" question is the thing. I understand you would really like to know, but people might read "urgent" and think that shit has really hit the fan.

 

[Notnemore1985]

It was urgent at the time of posting. With the amount of pain I was in, if it had progressed at all I would have had to go to the ER. I could barely stand when the pain would hit.
And I needed to know how careful I needed to be and needed to know quickly.

 

[Notnemore1985]

And every time I try and edit a post on my phone it deletes it. So I can't change the title now that the emergency has passed.

 

[T. Calderone]

You should see your doctor to get this over with so make that appointment. I'm afraid next time the pain returns, you could be in bad shape. If it's an infection, they generally don't clear up on their own. I'm going to go ahead and close this because it's sort of a legality issue which is beyond our scope here. Don't let your drug problem stand in the way of getting help!