NM hospital workers fired for posting patient photos online

A pair of workers at the University of New Mexico Hospital have been fired, and others disciplined, for taking pictures of patients receiving treatment and posting the images to social networking site MySpace. This follows a number of incidents related to the use of cell phone cameras in California, Arizona and South Dakota in recent years.

The images, largely shots of injuries being treated in the hospital's emergency department, were taken with the employees' cell phones. The photos were discovered when a hospital supervisor got an anonymous tip about them and began an investigation. Hospital managers personally oversaw the removal of the photos from the site, and from the employees' cell phones, officials said.

The MySpace page in question could only be accessed by the employee's MySpace "friends." Still, the employees violated a policy banning the use of cell phone cameras in patient cameras. The other employees who were disciplined were censured for not having reported the photos on their own. 

To learn more about this incident:
- read this piece [1] from The Associated Press

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Park Nicollet suspends employees for EMR snooping [3]
Union fights suspensions for workers viewing star's records [4]