I volunteer at my local hospital as a therapy dog handler. My dog and I visit patient rooms, waiting rooms, etc., to visit and give people a little distraction/comfort/pick-me-up/whatever they need. Even as a volunteer, I got pretty extensive training on policies/procedures, including HIPAA/privacy-related training. Since this is the local hospital of my hometown where I've lived for 15 years, I sometimes see people I know there. I never go out of my way to avoid people I know, but I never ask why they're there and I certainly never mention it to anyone else that I saw them at the hospital.
The other day, I saw my best friend's dad there as a patient. I was pretty surprised because she didn't mention anything to me about her dad being in the hospital (she and I are extremely close and talk on a daily basis, and she is close with her parents. We all live in the same small town). I treated him as anyone else. He saw me, pet my dog, asked me about work/my parents/etc, and I went on my way. I didn't even think about telling my friend that I saw her dad there, because, well, privacy. He could have been there for a sensitive issue and didn't want his daughter to know. Anyway, point is, it wasn't even a moral dilemma about whether to mention it to her. I knew I wouldn't.
Fast forward a few days and I get a text from her asking "were you going to tell me you saw my dad in the hospital?" I said something "oh did he mention he saw me?" And, well, she was pissed. She went off on me, calling me a "stickler" and saying that if the roles were reversed she wouldn't have hesitated to tell me. I tried to explain to her that it wasn't my place to tell her, and that doing so would be a violation of hospital policy and I believe even federal law. I didn't know why he was in there or whether he wanted his daughter to know, so I wasn't going to say anything.
Anyway, I figured maybe she was in shock/upset about her dad and was displacing her emotions onto me, which was fine. But it's been days and she's still barely talking to me. I don't know what to say to communicate to her that I love and care for her, but I'm not going to violate someone else's privacy to give her information.
TL;DR: I saw my friend's dad in the hospital, I didn't tell her for the sake of his privacy, and now she is irrationally angry at me.
Submitted April 25, 2019 at 06:44PM by throwaway29950105 http://bit.ly/2ZC1gNG
No comments:
Post a Comment