Ethical question
Rick Milen
Description
Collection
Title:
Ethical question
Creator:
Rick Milen
Date:
7/11/2008
Text:
Hello all,
What are your thoughts?
A CP or CPO who is a prosthetic user approaching & Soliciting any person with an amputation &/or prosthesis that he runs into in the nursing home, hospital or on the street, at the mall, etc.?
This is the 4th different prosthetic user I work with reported this behavior. This guy said he was minding his own business when he was approached and questioned about his device, where he got it, who made it, etc. Then the practitioner informs the gentleman that HE is a prosthetist & if he should need anything or want a new prosthesis, he should stop on by.
To me, this is a HIPPA violation. He is invading the prosthetic users privacy by identifying that they have/use a device and discussing their personal business with them. It would be different story IF the prosthetic user approached the prosthetist because he noticed that CP/CPO was using a prosthesis...THEN it is on their terms not the practitioners.
Am I missing something? I love watching and analyzing gait characteristics when I'm out and about and can easily pick up prosthetic users, but I certainly do not approach them and quiz them on their device...Oh, by the way, I'm a prosthetist!
Rick Milen, CPO, PTA
NEXSTEP, Inc.
Prosthetic Specialists
West Lawn, PA
What are your thoughts?
A CP or CPO who is a prosthetic user approaching & Soliciting any person with an amputation &/or prosthesis that he runs into in the nursing home, hospital or on the street, at the mall, etc.?
This is the 4th different prosthetic user I work with reported this behavior. This guy said he was minding his own business when he was approached and questioned about his device, where he got it, who made it, etc. Then the practitioner informs the gentleman that HE is a prosthetist & if he should need anything or want a new prosthesis, he should stop on by.
To me, this is a HIPPA violation. He is invading the prosthetic users privacy by identifying that they have/use a device and discussing their personal business with them. It would be different story IF the prosthetic user approached the prosthetist because he noticed that CP/CPO was using a prosthesis...THEN it is on their terms not the practitioners.
Am I missing something? I love watching and analyzing gait characteristics when I'm out and about and can easily pick up prosthetic users, but I certainly do not approach them and quiz them on their device...Oh, by the way, I'm a prosthetist!
Rick Milen, CPO, PTA
NEXSTEP, Inc.
Prosthetic Specialists
West Lawn, PA
Citation
Rick Milen, “Ethical question,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 6, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/229570.
