Some hospitals are finding social media like Twitter to be effective tools for communicating with and educating their patients and communities. But what happens when patients hold these very same tools in their hands, instantaneously broadcasting the details of their medical visits — with running commentary — to audiences far and wide?
Technology blogger Sarah Cortes recently waded into these murky waters when she expressed frustration at her care at a rural Pennsylvania hospital over Twitter and on her "Security Watch" blog.
Rushed to Robert Packer Hospital after suffering a serious spine fracture, Ms. Cortes says the hospital staff tried to coerce her into undergoing unnecessary spine surgery when it discovered that her insurance plan would cover the complex and expensive procedure. Ms. Cortes turned to her iPhone for help, typing, "Trapped in hospital in rural Pennsylvania, fractured spine. Need a neurosurgeon in Boston." Her pleas were eventually answered by friends and Twitter followers, who recommended a neurosurgeon willing to take her case at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Ms. Cortes has since deleted from her Twitter account the messages she wrote while at Packer, telling ZDNet.com she did so for professional reasons. Packer Hospital, meanwhile, responded only in part to Ms. Cortes's rather serious charges. "The implication that hospital would keep patients against their will because of the insurance coverage they have is an unfair and unwarranted characterization of the facility and its staff," Packer wrote in a statement to ZDNet, but said HIPAA restrictions prohibited the facility from responding any further.
ZDNet Editor in Chief Larry Dignan notes that Ms. Cortes's story and Packer's response raise some questions about healthcare privacy policies in the age of social media. "Should privacy procedures be waived by a patient"™s actions, say updating Twitter or Facebook during a surgery?" wonders Mr. Dignan, who adds that he'd "like to see a point-by-point rebuttal from the hospital to Cortes' allegations. Transparency should be both ways."
Irene Tsikitas
