When I was at our motherhouse two weeks
ago, one of the Sisters with whom I lived in community some forty years ago
told me that she was going to have a particular medical procedure done later
that week. She feared the results would
be a diagnosis of cancer. Yesterday she wrote to me that indeed that is exactly
what the procedure revealed. This morning this Sister posted that news on our
Congregational/Associate electronic bulletin board, indicating a surgery date
and asking for prayers.
In my e-mail to her earlier today, I
include this note of thanks along with my promise of prayers:
I want to thank
you for sharing your news with us. I
know that privacy is a word bandied about much, and many times I feel that some
distortion of its meaning keeps us isolated from each other. Each of us has the right to decide what and
how much we want to share with any individual or group. Your sharing enables me and so many other
Sisters and Associates who know and love you to accompany you more closely and
meaningfully on this journey. It deepens our bonds of community and sisterhood. Thank you.
Privacy is highly valued in our culture. Additionally,
if we are healthcare providers, the legal aspects of privacy under HIPAA* come
into play and strictly limit what health information can be disseminated and to
whom. Note that HIPAA’s legal obligations
bind health care providers, not family members or friends. What binds the
actions or words of family members, friends or any other non-healthcare
provider is the affected person’s right to privacy. This honoring of privacy is an ethical issue
of long standing, binding non-health care providers eons before HIPAA was ever
dreamed of.
As a director of an Independent Living
retirement center, I remember an emergency event which entailed calling an ambulance
to the cottage of one of the residents. As the ambulance pulled away, one of
the neighboring residents came from his cottage to ask what had happened to “Fred.”
Of course I could not provide any information; the resident understood that. That particular incident resulted in Fred’s
hospitalization for some time. When he did return home, the residents gathered
round his table in the dining room, long after all the dishes had been removed,
to share good conversation and express their gratitude for his return home. It was an expression of community.
While honoring both the legal constraints
of HIPAA and the ethical right to privacy, there are pro-active steps that can
be taken in health care situations that deepen the bonds of compassion,
community and friendship.
Read about that tomorrow
*If you want to know more
about HIPAA, the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, go
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