By Dr Brighton Chireka.
United Kingdom. – We do have special moments in hospitals such as the birth of an eagerly awaited baby. We would like to capture that moment and in the past that meant we would bring the camera and take photo. Those photos would be kept in our photo album and shown to the family only. This is no longer the case as we are into the era of live videos on social media. We are now seeing people walking into hospital wards and recording videos and posting them on social media.
Recently we have had two controversial videos , one was of a dying patient. This video showed the patient dying and the hospital staff doing nothing to resuscitate the patient. I am still not sure about the motives behind the sharing of such a sad video. I asked myself as to who was recording that video and why was the person recording not helping the patient or to asking for help on behalf of the patient.
The second video is that of a well known Member of Parliament (MP) who went to see a popular musician in hospital. Prior to the visit the media sadly was spreading false rumours that this musician had died. In the video the MP is joking with the severely ill musician which to me is not bad if we look at it from another angle. Sadly the musician is struggling to talk and is in discomfort and looks worried . The musician fakes a smile and it’s not difficult to see that he is not happy at all.
Let’s say the motive was to dispel the rumours then we expect a family spokesperson to come out and make a statement without filming a very sick patient. Also leaders must not abuse their powers and impose themselves on poor families. Families have their elders and tradition and their preferences which must be respected regardless of their poverty.
I have followed the debates about these two videos and have also made my views clear but in this article I am taking the case up and make an appeal to the officials at our hospitals and the Ministry of Health. I have shared this article with the relevant people in higher offices for them to look at my presentation.
The point is not about whether it is right to joke with a patient or not . The point is about recording the patient who is in hospital and sharing that recording on social media without their permission. The hospital is not a public place so we must have rules and regulations on photographing and video recording. In coming up with these guidelines, we must be careful that we do not use a “sledgehammer to open a nut.”
I have witnessed members of the public who are coming to our hospitals and intimidate medical staff saying, ” Go on I am recording you and you will be on social media .” This makes it difficult for the medical staff to do their work without fear of being put on internet without their permission.
We need guidelines that protect medical staff and other patients. This does not mean people should not record special moments , such as last hug with a terminally ill relative or the birth of a child. The guidelines must make sure that the relatives or friends have sought permission from the ward manager and the ward manager must verify that the patient has given a full informed consent to be filmed or have their picture taken.
The person taking the picture or filming must be aware that the photos or video may unknowingly capture health professionals and other patients in the background so must seek their consent as well. The hospital must put up posters prohibiting people from taking pictures or filming without consent.
Consent must be sought from everyone appearing in the recording, from the doctor to the patient lying out of focus in the background, before one can pull out their phone and take any pictures or record a video. The purpose of the pictures or video must be made clear so that those giving consent must not be surprised to see their images on social media. This requires the person filming to make it clear what they will do with it, such as whether the video is being emailed to friends or shared on social media.
The restriction on filming should extend into corridors and hospital grounds , or anywhere a patient or staff could be digitally captured without their permission.
This needs urgent attention from Ministry of health and Hospital officials otherwise patients’ and health professionals’ rights will continue to be violated. I also call upon members of the public to pause and reflect before taking a picture or recording videos in the hospital. We need to do to others what we would like done to us. Most of us would want our privacy to be respected and would want to willingly share our intimate parts of our life at our own time and not to be forced to do so .
Let’s join hands and stop this and say “not in my name” shall you take a picture or film a sick person without his or her full informed consent.
Comments
About Author
