Smile (not so candid) Doc, you're on candid camera!

[RyanX]

Hello,

First a brief intro:

This is my first post to the forum. I've been a long-time lurker and have thoroughly enjoyed the news on this website. I currently located in the US, living in the Wisconsin area. Reading the Cassiopaen transcripts is what brought me to this website originally. I've found them to be a good source of inspiration as well as a great primer to understanding the "big picture". I'm skeptical, yet open-minded by nature, so the transcripts and SOTT have appealed to me. I currently work as a computer pro at a large hospital IT center. You might find that a lot of my interests center around health and healthcare issues since I am so close to these in my daily life. That said, onto the meat of this post...

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=190314

Patient’s Candid Camera Sends Shockwaves Through Hospitals:

A nurse’s discovery of a Webcam hooked up by parents in their child’s Boston hospital room has stunned the patient’s doctor, raised a mound of privacy issues and potentially left medical staff looking over their shoulders. Dr. Samuel Blackman, a pediatric oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, would not speak for the record when contacted by the Herald about the incident at Children’s Hospital. But in an entry on his blog titled “Hemorrhage! You’re On Candid Camera,

 

[Ruth]

Blackman strongly questioned the use of the camera in the child’s room, asking, “Should parents have the right to a hospital version of a NannyCam?
<snip>
It seems obvious that the proliferation video capture devices is a direct threat to the medical establishment. So, in other words, "Truth Hurts" when it comes to modern medicine ;)

A couple of questions...

What kind of medical system values money over human lives, especially those of children?
I must admit to working in a public (not private) hospital system and I have found that with all children - and many 'adults' - often into their late twenties, parents will stay with them whilst they are in hospital. With cancer, people appreciate the support and often children and young adults only have their immediate families.

Especially when they have cancer.

What kind of parent leaves a 'NannyCam'? One that HAS to?... Or one that doesn't care enough to be there with their child when they have a life threatening illness... I just don't 'get' that, really I don't.

There is more to this psychopathic behaviour than simply the 'medical establishment', I fear.

 

[RyanX]

I agree, there is much more psychopathy than just the medical establishment alone. If you note in the article, however, the parents set up the nanycam so that a relative could see their son while he was in the hospital. To me this sounds like a thoughtful idea since a lot of times relatives are separated by large distances and don't always have the option of visiting each other due to work or other commitments. I agree that if the parents just wanted to set it up to keep tabs on their son while he's in the hospital without offering any bedside support, there would definately be a problem. The hospital is a scary place, especially for children.

It is true, most parents will stay with their children the entire time in the hospital if they are hospitalized for whatever reason. My wife and I took turns when our youngest daughter was hospitalized due to dehydration from a rotavirus infection. I couldn't imagine just leaving my kid(s) in the hospital without some support on a continual basis. For some families this might be difficult if both parents are working, but if that's the case maybe the family should look at their priorities in life? I don't know.

For the sake of having some sort of independent record of the care one received in the hospital, I think videotaping the visit would be invaluable for those who felt they were mistreated. Many times docs and staff will treat patients differently based on transference factors and even financial or insurance information. Many docs hold prejudices towards certain types of patients and this might interfere with their ability to treat the patient.

Overall, my concern is that healthcare "privacy" is being used to severely limit the quality of care of patients. I know there are much bigger problems in the world, but I just saw this as a reflection of how a thought or concept can be twisted to benefit the establishment.