A Cool thing about vet medicine

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PhunkeyPhish

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Meeting famous people.

Yesterday at work *** ***, the *** for the Phillies, just won the world series, stopped into our clinic with his dog ***. I got to teach him one-on-one how to clean his dog's ears lol. I don't like baseball, in fact I hate it, but man, it was cool.

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Cool as it is, veterinarians have an ethical and in many states a legal requirement to maintain the confidentiality of client-patient information.

Just a head's up in case this is going to turn in to a "I saw so-and-so's pet for such and such".
 
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Cool as it is, veterinarians have an ethical and in many states a legal requirement to maintain the confidentiality of client-patient information.

Just a head's up in case this is going to turn in to a "I saw so-and-so's pet for such and such".

Not techs as far as I'm aware. I know that Pennsylvania was trying to add technicians to the "doctor-client confidentiality" law, but last I heard it was shot down. As always, may be wrong.
 
Regardless of the specifics of the law, I think it's unprofessional to talk about specific clients and their pets on a public forum.

Just my opinion.
 
oh come on, give me a break! Its not like I'm ousting people for abusing animals or publicizing the guys location, or even the city that I work in. I'd be pretty surprised if all the vets in the country never tell their friends "oh i saw so-and-so today."
 
I'd be pretty surprised if all the vets in the country never tell their friends "oh i saw so-and-so today."

I'd be surprised, too. However, I'd be upset if they posted information like that on a public message board.

I spent some time working as an admin at the NIH and we had a relatively famous person come through for medical treatment. I did talk to my sister about it a little, but didn't post it on my facebook. Granted, a lot of people wouldn't be upset if information about their dog's ears got put online someplace and I don't see how this could reflect badly on ***, but some people are very private and would be upset. It's just something to think about.
 
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Bill59 is right.

You do realize that you jeopardize your employer's practice and open it up to a lawsuit for revealing a client's personal information? You've already done so by revealing the client's name...

Gee...wonder if any adcoms peruse these PUBLIC forums?

Best to start thinking and acting like a professional.
 
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oh come on, give me a break! Its not like I'm ousting people for abusing animals or publicizing the guys location, or even the city that I work in. I'd be pretty surprised if all the vets in the country never tell their friends "oh i saw so-and-so today."

They sure as heck DON'T post the client's name on a PUBLIC forum.
 
Please respect the Veterinarian-Patient-Client relationship and confidentiality laws and regulations!
 
Wow you guys really need to chill. Athletes after all, do give up information like their groin injuries for all the world to hear and read about in the newspaper. :rolleyes:
 
Wow you guys really need to chill. Athletes after all, do give up information like their groin injuries for all the world to hear and read about in the newspaper. :rolleyes:

That information is given voluntarily, with the athlete's consent.
 
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If it makes you feel any better I think it's cool and don't know (nor care) who you are talking about. I wonder what I would do if Johnny Depp came in and was like... what's heartworm? haha
 
Gee...wonder if any adcoms peruse these PUBLIC forums?

If mentioning a baseball players name on a pre-vet forum could overshadow a degree at an honors college and years of veterinary experience I weep for that school. Most of you guys are acting like I am intentionally trying to oust this guy and have committed a serious crime. I'm not trying to do either. I was just excited about meeting a famous dude and thought I would share it with fellow vet people, sorry. Chill out a little... more than enough of you have stated that I should not have done this. I thought that in a profession where feces and urine flies across rooms hitting people you all would be a bit more relaxed.

And yeah it's public, but none of you know my name or where I live.
 
If mentioning a baseball players name on a pre-vet forum could overshadow a degree at an honors college and years of veterinary experience I weep for that school. Most of you guys are acting like I am intentionally trying to oust this guy and have committed a serious crime. I'm not trying to do either. I was just excited about meeting a famous dude and thought I would share it with fellow vet people, sorry. Chill out a little... more than enough of you have stated that I should not have done this. I thought that in a profession where feces and urine flies across rooms hitting people you all would be a bit more relaxed.

And yeah it's public, but none of you know my name or where I live.

if i were qualified to, i would give this Post of the Month award.

seriously, Bill made a comment, it was taken care of by a mod, relax.

btw, i met Gloria Estefan at my dad's profession when i was a wee one. :soexcited: (if any of you know who she is any more)
 
Gee...wonder if any adcoms peruse these PUBLIC forums?

Some of us do. I think you're all getting a little wound up! Bill was right and the post was appropriately edited.. But Phunkey is right. Meeting famous people is a cool part of the profession and even when professional friends get together to talk about work, names get dropped. We're human.
 
This post is good example of how ethical/legal boundaries can be interpreted; hence the adcom comment.

Of course, people are human and we talk about our clients and that's perfectly fine. This is communication between two providers not disseminated to the public at large.

What is the point of revealing this person's identity? Why not mention that you saw a famous baseball player instead? You still convey the "cool thing about veterinary medicine" without breaching client-doctor confidentiality.

Hate to break it to you, but people can find out who you are and where you are located...especially lawyers armed with legal documents.

Privacy laws and confidentiality of patient information legislation are in place for a reason. They protect you from unauthorized access and use of your personal information. It also includes provisions that bind personnel from disseminating private information about you without your explicit consent.

Would you be ok with some person on this board revealing your name in conjunction with some medical visit?
 
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... Most of you guys are acting like I am intentionally trying to oust this guy and have committed a serious crime.

Nope, you came up with this one on your own. I just think you temporarily forgot common sense by naming the person.

Enough said.
 
Let me start off by saying I respect the forum rules concerning this issue.

I also understand Bill's comment about it being unproffesional.

With that said, Loo:

Privacy laws and confidentiality of patient information legislation are in place for a reason. They protect you from unauthorized access and use of your personal information. It also includes provisions that bind personnel from disseminating private information about you without your explicit consent.

Lets not misconstrue to law. While it may be unproffessional (as subjective as that term is), as far as I can deduce, the confidentiality clause of most states does NOT extend past the vet.

Perhaps thats something that needs to be changed. Perhaps all techs/assistants/receptionists/groomers/... need to sign an NDA.

Again, Forums have their own rules, that we all agree to, so I am not saying this because I think that any one was 'right'. But lets also not forget that legally, unless someone here posted is a vet, working in X,Y,Z state; no one did anything unethical or illegal.
 
http://www.avma.org/advocacy/state/issues/sr_confidential_records.asp

Also check state laws (usually found by looking under the particular state's veterinary board). Remember that in most cases, the more stringent rule applies (federal vs. state, etc).Again, because you are an employee of the practice, your employer could be held accountable for your actions because you were employed by him/her. Confidentiality is a shared obligation. Just because you are an employee (and not the doctor) of a practice does not give you the "right" to disclose private information.* If your disclosure should get back to the client, you (the doctor or you personally) could (potentially) be in hot water.My point is this---use common sense and be very careful to protect private client information.* This includes not using means that would identify a client.* Laws are written broadly and (with a good lawyer) are subject to interpretation.* In legal proceedings, it's hard to defend against a case in which the "offending" party should have known better.* Food for thought.

That's all. Are we done with it now?
 
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Well, a link to state laws concerning release of medical records isn't quite what we were talking about.

Are we done with it now?

Hell no. This is a forum meant to engage each other's understandings and knowledge so everyone learns from everyone else. Not to win a fight. Now if you wanna be done with it, thats fine. Someone else can pick up your slack. Im just hear to learn from an outsiders perspective.

I ask this question, and I ask it seriously.

Is bringing your animal to a vet any different from bringing your car in for an oil change?

That may seem like a stupid analogy, but I don't want my mechanic to talk about the dirty magazines he found under my seat. While it would be unprofessional of him to relay my name, I don't see any reason my he couldn't. What exactly is the difference between my car and my heifer?

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well, a link to state laws concerning release of medical records isn't quite what we were talking about.
a record may include oral as well as written material.

hell no.* This is a forum meant to engage each other's understandings and knowledge so everyone learns from everyone else.* Not to win a fight.* Now if you wanna be done with it, thats fine.* Someone else can pick up your slack.* Im just hear to learn from an outsiders perspective.*
i'm not here to "win a fight". I'm just presenting another view.

is bringing your animal to a vet any different from bringing your car in for an oil change?*
geez, i really hope so! I'll let others answer this...

that may seem like a stupid analogy, but i don't want my mechanic to talk about the dirty magazines he found under my seat.* While it would be unprofessional of him to relay my name, i don't see any reason my he couldn't.** What exactly is the difference between my car and my heifer?*

this could be answered in many different ways.* I guess it depends on how much value you place on each.* Your car is not used for food.* If it's unprofessional of your mechanic to mention you by name; it stands to reason that it's* also unprofessional for your mechanic to identify you by name in writing as well without your consent, yes?
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Phunky, I know you're excited and everything. I agree that it's a lot of fun to meet cool people involved with vet med, as clients or otherwise.

If mentioning a baseball players name on a pre-vet forum could overshadow a degree at an honors college and years of veterinary experience I weep for that school. Most of you guys are acting like I am intentionally trying to oust this guy and have committed a serious crime. I'm not trying to do either. I was just excited about meeting a famous dude and thought I would share it with fellow vet people, sorry. Chill out a little... more than enough of you have stated that I should not have done this. I thought that in a profession where feces and urine flies across rooms hitting people you all would be a bit more relaxed.

And yeah it's public, but none of you know my name or where I live.

Clients' med history is a serious business to me too. But that aside, don't think that nobody can figure out who you are (if you're like the rest of us, anyhow). Though if you're careful, they can't, this is also true.

But most of us practically ensure that any adcom for the schools we've applied to can figure out who we are. We post that information ourselves!

Do you want to know what my interests are? Peruse my history, it's there.
Want to know that I'm applying my second cycle? It's there.
Want to know what schools I've applied to this round? I've posted it. Want to know what day I'm interviewing at what school (and heck when I got the email)? It's there.

Adcoms (at an open file interview) also have all this info... paired up to my real name, and I doubt there's going to be too many other applicants with the exact same stats interviewing the same day.

They know who I am if they read these boards and care to match it up, because I've willingly given up enough info to allow that while chatting it up with all of you. And as long as I can behave myself on here :D, that's probably a pretty neutral thing for me to do.
 
btw, i met Gloria Estefan at my dad's profession when i was a wee one. :soexcited: (if any of you know who she is any more)

Gloria just opened a hotel and restaurant in my home town. It's pretty sweet. Right on the beach, which kinda sucks b/c I love beaches without anything on it, but it's still nice (and $$$!!).

"in a profession where feces and urine flies across rooms hitting people you all would be a bit more relaxed. "

When i first read this i thought it said when feces and urine and flies hit people and I was like 'eww.. flies? who has flies in their clinics? gross...' :laugh: then i saw what it said and how i misread it and laughed because i thought flies were gross but totally accepted the feces and urine part.
 
If I were working at a clinic and Aaron Rodgers (Packers QB) walked in the door with a pet I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself. I am so in love with that man it is ridiculous and kind of weird... :love:

what were we talking about again.....
 
If I were working at a clinic and Aaron Rodgers (Packers QB) walked in the door with a pet I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself. I am so in love with that man it is ridiculous and kind of weird... :love:

what were we talking about again.....
Not sure why this was bumped, but I have to give props to Nyanko for being an Aaron Rodgers fan before the superbowl run, and before this amazing season.
 
Not sure why this was bumped, but I have to give props to Nyanko for being an Aaron Rodgers fan before the superbowl run, and before this amazing season.

I was a fan of his from the beginning! I distinctly remember during the offseason before Favre retired/unretired/took his act elsewhere having a debate with my dad about him. My dad thought he was going to crash and burn, and I told him that Rodgers would be a freaking superstar. We put a bet on it even - he would buy me a Rodgers jersey at the end of the following season if I was right about him, and I would buy myself a Jets Favre jersey if I was wrong.

Now I don't wear my jersey anymore because of all the bandwagoners. If you look through my FB profile pics it's in one of them though! :D

My dad now calls me up for fantasy football advice too, haha.
 
We put a bet on it even - he would buy me a Rodgers jersey at the end of the following season if I was right about him, and I would buy myself a Jets Favre jersey if I was wrong.

As a die-hard Jets fan I am sorry to admit I own a Jets Favre jersey. If you had lost the bet cause I know where you could have found one for real cheap ;)
 
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