Sharp Grossmont Hospital used hidden cameras in their women's health center, ostensibly due to concerns of potential theft of an anesthesia drug by employees. But the cameras also recorded video of countless patients undergoing examinations and medical procedures. The hospital is now facing a lawsuit filed by 81 women who claim to have been secretly recorded.
In 2016, the situation was exposed in a public letter written by Dr. Patrick Sullivan, who stated that he had discovered the cameras originally in 2013 and raised objections. After medical staff began to cover the cameras with tape, they were eventually removed. However, in 2016 he discovered more hidden cameras. Afterward, Dr. Sullivan claimed to have been the target of retaliation for his whistleblowing, which became the subject of a 2017 lawsuit.
The video recordings were allegedly stored on hospital computers and reviewed by a male security employee.
https://www.rt.com/usa/455248-hospital-secret-film-women-operation/
Also at 10News San Diego.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:04AM
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:28AM
mdc is dead and i love MDC!!!!
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @02:05AM (19 children)
Why do guys do this shit?
Omg, potential theft of a drug that costs 2¢ to make (don't quote me the price big pharma quotes to individuals, because it's bullshit). What a fucking bullshit excuse. Sounds like a few cocaine-snorting assholes in the boardroom need to be liberated of their balls. It's the only way to be sure.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @02:34AM (5 children)
It's not so much "guys" doing this, as bean counters. The kind of people who sweat bullets over the loss of a penny here, and a nickle there can justify almost anything if they can cut "losses". The people who dreamt this up may or may not be turned on by naked female bodies. They are most definitely turned on by saving those pennies though. It may even be females on the staff who came up with the idea, and/or pushed the idea. Well, like I said, not "females", so much as bean counters.
Funny that the bean counters couldn't see ahead to potential liability. Maybe they should have had an ironclad procedure for reviewing, then deleting all this video? Nahhh, that would be a waste. Gotta save every penny!
Where the "guys" come in, is after the fact, when they learn about all this video of naked female bodies, and gain access to the video.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Tuesday April 02 2019, @02:48AM
I very much doubt that titillation ever factored into the decision to install these cameras. This was just a bunch of dumb people not considering the side effects / consequences of their decisions.
It's also a really dumb way to check for theft under these conditions. Much easier and cheaper to do a stock check at the end of a surgery / consult and confirm that any missing drugs were in fact used during the procedure (with empty containers present to account for it). This could be done by someone independent of the surgery / consult at very low cost.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:19AM (1 child)
This isn't about the cost, it's about the drugs. Hospitals can get in a shit ton of trouble if drugs are missing. They worry about the drugs being sold on the black market (which is bad) or addicted employees (which is worse).
The big question that doesn't seem to get asked while these poor decisions are being made is "what happens when people find out?" Of course the naive response is always some version of "who is, or how is someone, going to find out?" Well, dumbasses, if you intend to use the hidden camera video as evidence then everybody is going to find out. If you don't plan on using the video for evidence then why are you doing it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by urza9814 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @06:24PM
They'll use the solution already pioneered by our government officials -- parallel construction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @06:19AM
Bean counters follow the sub-human science of economics rather than the human sub-science of catallactics. That is the problem.
(Score: 4, Informative) by goodie on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:37AM
My management accounting in undergrad was a great prof (yet I hate the subject) who would always remind us that while bean counters are out there locking up office supplies closets because of "rampant theft", the CEOs are flying private jets for a "seminar" in Barbados with hookers and blow :D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:11AM (2 children)
Why do women do this shit? What the hell difference does it make whether it was a "man" reviewing security footage or a "woman" reviewing security footage? what the fuck is wrong with you?
Tell ya what. Watch porn. Watch it for 48 hours straight. Watch it for the entire day in a sitting. Not a god damn soul on earth would enjoy that shit. You can hear it from police who have to field these cases. This shit is BORING. There is ZERO appeal to reviewing video like this, even if there WERE nude patients involved.
But of course, it was doubtless a female who required a man be placed at this post. Just wait for that line to come out.. of course you'll start denying every aspect of the whole thing that you possibly can.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:40PM
"Dr. Patrick Sullivan ... claimed to have been the target of retaliation for his whistleblowing ..." So, the guy that found this, reported it, and the hospital eventually removed all of the cameras. They only did so, after he notified them a second time that it was still happening. Then, he ended up suing them in 2017, because of what he perceived as retaliation to his whistleblowing. The women that were secretly recorded found out about it and are now suing. Personally, I find it justified.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Tuesday April 02 2019, @05:23PM
> There is ZERO appeal to reviewing video like this, even if there WERE nude patients involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyeurism [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:15AM (5 children)
For the porn? See pornhub for lots of examples to jerk to
(Score: 3, Funny) by Mykl on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:44AM (4 children)
Pretty sure this footage would resemble Pornhub clips about as much as the footage of my backyard when the pool guy comes over to clean.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @03:56AM (3 children)
ooooh!!! got a link?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:32PM (2 children)
Sure [pornhub.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:41PM (1 child)
he was asking for a link to the backyard cam of the pool cleaner
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @04:55PM
That is the backyard cam of the pool cleaner.
You know, pool removal of nasty, hazardous or unhealthy bacteria.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by chewbacon on Tuesday April 02 2019, @04:10AM (1 child)
You're absolutely clueless. The cost of drugs is small, but that's not the problem. While it is rare, providers divert and abuse narcs. About once a year, I'd hear about an employee somewhere in my facility getting busted. Eventually one of my previous employers began analyzing users removing drugs from the system and doing drug tests for any flags raised. So the hospital can see a discrepancy in their narc counts or unusual patterns. Say a patient dies because an anesthesia provider was high on meds he cheated the machine out of. Hospital knew about the diversion of narcs according to their logs and then the hospital becomes one of the parties held liable in the wrongful death lawsuit. The hospital is doing this in the best interest of patients.
In fact, cameras in patient care areas is nothing new. It's been going on for a really long time. Now the question is: were these patients informed? A quick line in the consent form would put this to bed a week ago: I consent to security surveillance to be stored... blah blah legal lingo. Sounds like they were not informed and that's a problem. Other issue: HIPAA is stepping up their secure storage requirements and it usually requires software (encryption) and physical security. That'll come out in the details whether or not it was HIPAA compliant. The gender of the staff reviewing the logs is, in my opinion, irrelevant and, on the surface, sexist. I'm more concerned over did he have a need to review it? Patient privacy rule of thumb: is it part of your job to look at this? No? Then it's a problem.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @06:29PM
The odd thing about HIPAA is it makes everyone jump about IT security (or at least the appearance of it), securing records, all this stuff that can be "solved" by buying a padlock or a firewall appliance...but then they go and shove ten patients in a room and the doctors are shouting to their patients about their medical conditions because it's the only way to be heard over all the noise while the next patient and their family is literally just as close to the doctor as the patient they're trying to discuss with...last few times I was in a hospital it made the whole concept of "patient privacy" feel like a freakin' joke. There is zero privacy in those places anymore. Does it really matter that much if there's MORE cameras in the age of smartphones when they already ask you to undress with other people watching??
(Score: 3, Insightful) by darkfeline on Tuesday April 02 2019, @04:15AM
9mm bullets cost around 15c. That's less than many kinds of candy. The cost of them getting stolen is quite negligible.
Yet if it were discovered that a shop was regularly losing its inventory of bullets and not taking any preventive actions, I doubt that would be taken kindly by the public or regulators.
It's not about the money, it's about what it's going to be used for after being stolen.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @07:24AM
Yes! All whistleblowers are male! They must be kept in line!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 02 2019, @10:10AM
They found those womens' "most sensitive genital areas." Commonly known as, the G Spot. Not easy to do and that's something that you'd think the women would be grateful for. They're not grateful, they're suing. Foolish!!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @12:59PM
It's simply the best, there's nothing in the world like wanking off to a bitch getting her appendix removed...