Unauthorized Social Media Posting of Resident Images by LPN
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to protect residents’ privacy and right to confidentiality when an LPN used a personal cell phone to record video footage of a resident fall from the facility’s camera system and that video was subsequently posted to a social media account. The LPN reported that she recorded the fall as part of the facility’s fall investigation process using her personal phone and believed she had deleted the video before leaving the facility. However, a former facility employee later notified her that the video had been posted as a social media “story” clip. Photo stills taken from the LPN’s social media account showed residents sitting in a common day room area of the facility with their faces clearly visible. Four residents were identified as having their images and identities exposed in the social media post. One resident had been admitted with Alzheimer’s disease and was documented as severely cognitively impaired. A second resident had schizophrenia with a moderate cognitive impairment, and the third and fourth residents had dementia, with one having moderate and the other severe cognitive impairment. The DON stated that the LPN took a video of the camera system using her cell phone to better understand the resident’s fall and believed the video would be encrypted and deleted prior to her leaving the facility. The facility’s Social Media and Electronic Communications policy explicitly prohibited employees from transmitting any resident-related images or information via electronic media that could violate resident confidentiality or privacy, including posting or sharing any information regarding a resident, and this policy was not followed in this incident.
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