Is it legal for fire and rescue to post pictures and info from an accident scene?

Posted by admin on May 12th, 2010 and filed under fire rescue | 1 Comment »

My Girlfriend was in an accident and in less then an hour one one of the fire and rescue had posted pictures on facebook denoting the injuries of those involved

Pictures maybe because it is in a public place and an accident responded to is generally a matter of public record.

But reports of injuries MAY be medical records, and certainly the names and details would then be confidential under HIPAA. She should download the information, ask the person to remove it, and then talk to an attorney if she wants to take action.

Alternatively a complaint to the fire department would probably provoke swift action.

If this person is a paramedic or involved in treating her, then I’d say for sure they are deep trouble and likely to lose their jobs over it. If not, at a minimum it’s pretty unprofessional and the person is going to be ‘read the riot act’ by his superiors and told to take it down and never do it again.

One Response

  1. Phil Says:

    Pictures maybe because it is in a public place and an accident responded to is generally a matter of public record.

    But reports of injuries MAY be medical records, and certainly the names and details would then be confidential under HIPAA. She should download the information, ask the person to remove it, and then talk to an attorney if she wants to take action.

    Alternatively a complaint to the fire department would probably provoke swift action.

    If this person is a paramedic or involved in treating her, then I’d say for sure they are deep trouble and likely to lose their jobs over it. If not, at a minimum it’s pretty unprofessional and the person is going to be ‘read the riot act’ by his superiors and told to take it down and never do it again.
    References :

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