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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Our Modern World

Posted by on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:37 AM

Man arrives at hospital with "an object lodged in his rectum," X-rays taken (object turns out to be sex toy designed for rectum-lodging that somehow failed to dislodge), two nurses take cell phone pictures of X-rays pictures showing object-lodged rectum, one nurse allegedly posts cell phone pictures to Facebook, both nurses fired, Walworth County, Wisconsin, officials notify FBI in an attempt to make a federal case out of this incident.

 

Comments (27) RSS

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1
Long live HIPAA!
Posted by Providence on February 26, 2009 at 11:43 AM
2
Overblown, but they deserved to be fired...I hope they get sued, too.
Posted by michael strangeways on February 26, 2009 at 11:44 AM
3
A friend of mine told me that when she was in med school there was a lecture showing x-rays of various objects stuck in people's butts. The Doctor, showing the x-ray of a patient with a stuck sex toy, said that this person was seen repeatedly for the same problem. On this patient's last visit to the hospital the doctor asked the him if he really wanted to have the toy removed or would he just like the doctor to change the batteries.
Posted by Sad Comment on February 26, 2009 at 11:47 AM
4
What goes on in da butt should stay in da butt!
Posted by da butt on February 26, 2009 at 11:50 AM
5
HIPAA, duh. Those nurses should be fired.
Posted by @ on February 26, 2009 at 11:52 AM
6
take it from someone who knows, there is no such thing as doctor patient confidentiality
Posted by Wurm on February 26, 2009 at 11:52 AM
7
this happens all the time! that guy in arizona who had 'hot rod' tattooed on his johnson got snapped by his surgeon. these two nurses were just unlucky enough to get caught.
Posted by scary tyler moore on February 26, 2009 at 11:58 AM
8
I am outraged by this violation of privacy.

Got pics?
Posted by kitschnsync on February 26, 2009 at 11:58 AM
9
If the photos didn't allow the patient to be identified, this is not legally any different from a post saying "I had a patient yesterday with a BP of 220/90!".

To be sure, I support any employer's right to fire an at-will employee for any reason, including their choice of hair-dye. But I think in this case one would have to say that the hospital fired her because they felt her conduct was unprofessional or reflected poorly on them, not because she actually violated a law.
Posted by David Wright on February 26, 2009 at 12:02 PM
10
So long as nobody sends them to my cellphone, I'm not outraged.

Now, wanna see some funny MRIs?
Posted by Will in Seattle on February 26, 2009 at 12:03 PM
11
Once it's on the internet, it's in federal jurisdiction. Good fucking luck, nurses.
Posted by Greg on February 26, 2009 at 12:03 PM
12
Somehow I'm able (and required) to do my job without uploading the details to the internet. These nurses were not professional.
Posted by davidLBC on February 26, 2009 at 12:15 PM
13
@9 an x-ray is part of the patient's medical record and it is illegal to release any part of a patient's medical record without consent. Photographing a filma and publishing would definitely count as an illegal release of part of the record, so it's a lot different than just talking about the case in a way that would not ID the patient.
Posted by kinaidos on February 26, 2009 at 12:16 PM
14
LINK FAIL.

http://www.wisn.com/cnn-news/18796315/de…

udesnude.com/

dudesnude.com, i figure? man, i want your job.
Posted by SEATTLE FERRY on February 26, 2009 at 12:27 PM
15
also, in all seriousness, PICS?
Posted by SEATTLE FERRY on February 26, 2009 at 12:28 PM
16
Nurses carry plenty of crazy to begin with, and sometimes it overwhelms the professional barrier.
Posted by laterite on February 26, 2009 at 12:29 PM
17
Rectum, hell it nearly killed him!
Posted by it needed to be said on February 26, 2009 at 12:46 PM
18
Nurses shouldn't go to jail for violating patient privacy until patients start going to jail for abusing nurses, physcially and sexually.

Any harm done to that patient is nothing compared with the degradation nurses are expected to put up with every day.
Posted by oljb on February 26, 2009 at 1:02 PM
19
When I was a Navy Corpsman I did duty in the medical library so, naturally, I read anything I could find on sex. One book had x-rays of the things people stuck up their butts. Light bulbs, knifes, cucumbers, pencils, etc., etc. If those x-rays didn't identify the patient, I don't see the problem.
Posted by Vince on February 26, 2009 at 1:12 PM
20
why do these people stick these objects up their butts? light bulbs and knives!?!?!?
Posted by ketchup/catsup on February 26, 2009 at 1:31 PM
21
Patient privacy has a very high threshold of privacy compared to what people might think.
Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale on February 26, 2009 at 1:44 PM
22
16 - I am a nurse. Go fuck yourself.
Posted by ...in the arse with a sex toy on February 26, 2009 at 1:50 PM
23
There's an entire website devoted to this. I am always surprised by the number of people who think sticking something made of glass into any bodily orifice is a good idea. How could they not know it would shatter?

http://www.well.com/~cynsa/newbutt.html
Posted by yucca flower on February 26, 2009 at 4:31 PM
24
@19 - You were looking at photos in books in an armed services medical library? Consider the possibility that the publishers sought and obtained necessary legal consent to publish them. Very different from cellphone photos posted to FB in the age of HIPAA.
Posted by blue barberpole on February 26, 2009 at 5:17 PM
25
@18 she posted it on her Facebook.

if you are advocating getting even or referring to some scorecard...this isn't the way to do it
Posted by 4f...sake on February 26, 2009 at 6:40 PM
26
@ 16: I am a nurse, too. You're right. We're crazy. Now keep your trivial, boring, whiny cold or flu out of my ER and let me take care of the screaming, bleeding people or I'll take a picture of your strange and odd-sized genitals and have it decal-ed on the side of my van. And fuck yourself, also.
Posted by bangs on February 27, 2009 at 7:39 AM
27
I would not like it if the nurses did this to me, but guess what? The fact that so many people are talking about it tells me that the nurses' predilection for the gross and macabre is as normal as yours, mine, and...well...the gentleman who had the weewee stuck up his crack.

Hmmm...wish I could see those x-rays...

I guess assholes are not anatomically built to facitate the insertion of plastic weewees.

Holy Grand Canyon, Batman! This is a job for Procto-Man!
Posted by cuzamere on March 18, 2009 at 3:23 AM

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