Brigham and Women's nurses say operating room cameras violate staff, patient privacy
BOSTON - Surgical equipment company promotional videos show the types of cameras and systems used for robotic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Nurses tell the I-Team they had no idea cameras were being mounted on the wall in operating rooms until after they were installed in early June.
Jim McCarthy, an RN, says people were horrified about it. Calling it a violation of privacy for the nurses and more importantly the patients. McCarthy says he does not know if the cameras were recording and says they just appeared in the operating rooms.
Hospital says video is only live during surgery
In a statement Brigham and Women's says the systems are not new, patients are not able to be identified and the video is only live for staff and physicians during the surgery.
Statement from Brigham and Women's Hospital:
"We, like all operating rooms, have laparoscopic, operative field cameras that are part of an integrated system we've had in place since 2008. These cameras are used to assist with robotic surgeries, as well as to allow surgeons to see into body cavities during procedures. This is legacy technology that has been in place at the Brigham for many, many years, is HIPAA protected and captures the surgical field only for the purposes of increasing safety. There are no open screens and images are not recorded. Patients are advised that these are used as part of their surgery, are medically necessary, and affirmatively provide written consent prior to their procedure. Additionally, cameras must be turned on by our nursing staff in order to be used."
Nurses tell the I-Team they do not turn on the cameras. McCarthy says in this day of hacking into systems, there's a concern that someone could see a potentially intimate surgery where the patient could be exposed. He also says one of the doctors said he could watch the operation from his office.
Hospital consent form
The hospital's medical consent form which patients sign the day of surgery does not specifically mention videotaping. The form does say that the hospital may take photos and recordings for education research and other health care related operations.
George Annas, professor and chair of the Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights Department of Boston University School of Public Health says that is not enough for informed consent.
"The short answer is no that is not enough," Annas said. "As a general rule everything in the consent forms are things that people would usually expect to be there. The important thing is not whether it's in the form, it's whether the patient has actually been talked to about this and given a chance to understand it."
Contentious union negotiations ongoing
The Brigham's nurses and the hospital are locked in contentious union negotiations. The issues involve a variety of concerns including safety, staffing, and transparency around the use of cameras.
McCarthy says nurses are not sure of the purpose of the cameras. If it is educational, McCarthy says everyone should know about it, and patients and staff should consent to the videotaping.
"The patient has to consent to it," McCarthy said. "You have to basically say that you are going to be videotaped for this surgery and they have to sign off on that and that wasn't done in these cases. Same thing for the staff. No staff signed off on this, they didn't agree to be videotaped for these cases as well too."
Last month, nurses voted to authorize a strike. Hoping to avoid it, both sides head back to the bargaining table on August 8.