INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Doctors Suspended After Patient’s Genitals Lodged With Foreign Object Becomes A Photo Op?

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 02:37 PST, Sep 15, 2017

Photos and videos of a patient’s genitals, which were taken on personal cell phone cameras, have been circulated among the staff at a Pennsylvania hospital. A recent investigation into this matter left two Pennsylvania doctors suspended, and the hospital is in the process of replacing the surgical services nursing director as a result of this incident.

According to Fox News, this incident took place among the staff at UPMC Bedford Memorial Hospital, and the investigation that followed revealed the details of how these pictures came into existence. The pictures were first brought to the administration’s attention when a witness came to them to complain about the photos.

The witness described how these photos were taken of the unconscious patient in the operating room, where a crowd of the medical staff had congregated. The witness said there were a number of hospital staff that formed a “cheerleader type pyramid,” with their cell phones out and taking pictures and videos of the patient’s genital injury, which required surgery to “remove a foreign object,” that had become lodged in the genitals, according to Fox.

https://www.facebook.com/WJACTV/posts/10155729890659308

According to local NBC News, when the investigation was first reported, the only description given of the patient’s injury was there was a “foreign body lodged in their genitals.” There have been no further details as to what that “foreign object” was, and there’s no indication as to why it became such a curiosity to the point people risked getting into trouble to have a picture of this injury.

The Ottawa Sun reports that the “doctors were suspended for taking photos of a patient with an item in their genitals.” While there’s no indication if the person suffering this injury is a man or a woman, the above statement may offer a hint as to the sex of the patient.

Although the incident occurred in December, it wasn’t brought to the attention of the hospital’s administrators until January. This prompted an investigation by the hospital, but the state’s health department also opened their own investigation into this incident, according to Penn Live.

The investigations were recently completed, and the suspension penalties were handed down to the doctors involved. One doctor received a seven-day suspension and was given a “letter of guidance.” That doctor also needs to complete six hours of training regarding the patient’s privacy and medical ethics.

The second doctor was suspended for 28 days and also needs to complete 18 credits concerning the privacy and ethics related to the patients.

The hospital staff said that during the investigation a doctor had requested a picture of the patient’s genital injury be taken, but the hospital camera was broken, so a cell phone was used. The investigation found the camera was not broken, although it was very complicated to use.

The health department officials believed there was only one picture taken, but they found out later that there were several more. One of the employees told the investigators, “I was attending to the patient and at one point when I looked up there were so many people it looked like a cheerleader type pyramid.”

The hospital staff reported passing along the photo via their cell phones. Another unnamed employee told the investigators, “it was a couple days before Christmas, I received a picture text on my phone from Anesthesia, made a comment and moved on. We do pass on interesting stuff…”

Another staff person admitted that there was “chaos” as there were “a ton of people in the room.” That staff person also said that the patient was the “focal point” of that chaos. The hospital staff admitted sharing the photos with their coworkers, and one confessed to showing the picture to their spouse. This incident went against the patient’s right to privacy.

The patient has been made aware of the incident and the result of the investigation, according to Fox News. The hospital has listed the corrective steps they’ve embarked on due to this incident. The hospital’s list is seen below.

  • Sending a memo to staff members regarding adhering to hospital policies
  • Requiring surgical staff had to attend a meeting on privacy and confidentiality
  • Disciplining an unspecified number of staff members, with records placed in their files.
  • Appointing a new surgical services nursing director.

[Featured Image by Syda Productions/Shutterstock]

Share this article: Doctors Suspended After Patient’s Genitals Lodged With Foreign Object Becomes A Photo Op?
More from Inquisitr