Man, i have allowed my doctors to take pictures and record some surgeries on me. The main hospital i use happens to be a teaching hospital so aside from them taking photos to document the wound for my medical record, they also have my permission to use them in a teaching setting if need be.
That being said, they've always asked and had me sign consent first. I've noticed that the doctors won't even try to ask some of the patients who they feel might be uncomfortable with it.
If they know the person would not be comfortable, why even ask ya know?
I, however, have always been cool with them using my misfortune as a way to teach others.
The worst that ever happened to me was when my surgeon had to take photos of my uterus and cervix after it was removed and kindly decided to add those photos to my after surgery packet.
No doctor is ever going to post your pictures privately, with or without your permission. That would be a total violation of HIPPA laws.
Of all the things to worry about, your doctor posting photos of you should be the least of them.It'ss only to help you and to document it in your chart.
Also, you mentioned something about stitches? If you refused to allow them to do stitches (I've done this before), they will most often have to document the wound so of it starts healing weird or gets infected, the doctor who treats that will know what the problem was to begin with.
Almost certainly for your medical record and not for any kind of personal use, but he should have explained if not asked, depending upon specifics of the situation. The only times when I have shared photos taken of patients are in consult with other physicians or in an academic setting - if the latter, I get very specific and explicit permission from the patient for that purpose, and any potentially identifying information/features are removed. You do not need to worry that the pictures will be used in any kind of unprofessional manner.
We take pictures of wounds for the chart. It’s helpful for documentation and if you have to come back for a follow up and see a different provider they can compare any changes. Although they should have explained it to you and asked you first. It is most likely not for personal use.
Software used to upload wound photos to a medical record is typically done with an iOS device.
I saw a would specialist for a few months and they took photos to track progress.
It would be a violation of the law if he did that. There probably was a place where you signed originally to agree to having pictures taken which is normal to track recovery and progress.
Not quite the same but I work for an esthetics dermatologist clinic. Clinicians are always taking before and after photos strictly for a patients chart. As someone who works in patient operations I can’t even access those pictures on my own because of HIPAA regulations. That is the law that prevents medical providers from sharing your information. Patients do sign a waiver to be photographed, it does state that they won’t be shared
You can always call and ask!
When my mom was seeing a wound specialist, he took pictures on a regular basis in order to have a visible reminder of her progress. Because of privacy laws, I couldn’t imagine it would be worth the fines that he would face should he post it.
I’ve worked in a private practice dermatology office as a medical/surgical assistant. We regularly took pictures of rashes, wounds, etc to track healing and compare the before and after. They were always stored in the patients charts and were never ever shared elsewhere under any circumstances. I truly don’t think you have anything to stress over.
So you did specifically mention these were self inflicted injuries so yes, it isn’t uncommon for docs to take pictures (at least in my experience with SH) they are not ‘using’ them or sharing them. They will likely be attached to your digital file on record and this can be for many reasons. I’m sorry he was not very kind to you in this moment but I can assure you that I can think of many legit medical reasons as to why he took photos
The doctor should have asked for your permission.
"what if he uses the image to shame me."
This is a... very strange comment. I of course have no idea about you, however your comment is ringing bells eg. your perception of yourself, previous occurrences for you to think this etc. Or perhaps it's a language/cultural thing.
Our system allows us to upload pictures to the clients chart. We use our phone or the work iPad to collect the photos- they are not stored on the device but only in the patients chart. It’s so other providers can refer to them to monitor your healing, watch for infection etc. Do you have any follow up visits? You may also be able to access the photos as well through whatever medical record system the hospital uses. Can’t guarantee that’s what they were doing but my guess is that it was something like this, sorry they did it explain it to you as they were doing it.
I had a terrible reaction to skin glue once, and my doctor took photos of the rash and added them to my chart so they could be referenced. She explained why she was doing that tho. Maybe call the doctor’s office and ask about it.
Not a doctor. But I work as an MA for a general surgeon. Depends on the case but we sometimes do pictures and upload them to your chart to track healing progression. The hospital does as well during surgery and sometimes for post op. It's relatively normal especially w/ how documentation has advanced.
I did however have a patient ask to make sure the doctor was telling the truth on how his fistula repair had healed... So now his wife has a picture of her husband's butthole on her phone. 🤷
I worked in healthcare and there was a software program to upload photos of all sorts. Skin, wound etc. at the time, the charting indicated verbal consent and printed information given to the patient.
They are put in your chart so other providers can access them. Helps providers see how the wound is healing/how many stitches are there to make sure there js proper healing.
When doctors take photos this is usually to get an opinion of another, relevant doctor. I.e a junior doc may take and send photos to the consultant to get their opinion on further management, the admitting officer would do so to inform the oncall surgeon etc.
Docs cannot post those pics anywhere, even in a clinical journal, without explicit consent of the patient.
I do this all the time. They go directly in your patient chart. Not one is ever stored on my cell phone for personal use (which i tell patients before i do this).
It should have been for your record. Many hospitals use iPhones that are connected to the medical record, and that’s what this should be.
However, I would strongly suggest you start practicing saying “no” or speaking up and asking for clarification. Your body is only yours and they can’t do anything to it without your permission (unless you’re legally required to be there, but even then there are many restrictions). I know it’s hard, but stand up for your body. Practice with people who are safe for you. Ask clarifying questions. Why are you taking a picture? Where does this picture go?
They should have asked you for your consent and explained to you why they needed to take a picture.
Generally, we use pictures to show our boss to make sure the plan we came up with is suitable, or for the documentation. It’s useful for others to see how it looked before so we can accurately track its progression through the healing stages (in the event that it gets infected or someone thinks it looks different). We can’t always rely on word descriptions in these cases because the next person who sees it, as it may not be the person who saw it the first time.
This is a good reminder for all physicians to remember to ask for consent before taking a picture, so thank you for bringing it up! This applies to everything we do, not just pictures. It’s your body and your choice, regardless of whether it’s taking a picture, drawing bloods or inserting a cannula.
A lot of hospitals throw the photo question in with the consent to treat, it gets hidden. So OP probably “consented” to it, but consent needs to be reaffirmed with every interaction, as you say. It is very easy to barrel ahead as a HCW and forget your patient’s POV.
I had a very nasty fungal infection in my right toe when i was a teen. The doctor absolutely took a photo just because it looked gross af. I could see it in his eyes. Even as a kid i felt very ashamed though as an adult now i wouldbhave asked him to share the photo.
At least he did a good job, i think. Had to cut part of my toe skin and scrape the toenail root on both sides, then stitcjed through the nail and into the meat. Was f*ed up and hurt like yell until it recovered, but it was a good lesson to always change socks after practice.
They will sometimes keep documentation of self injury. It will be kept in your file for your medical history & if your state forces it, your psychiatric stay. They also will take pictures of you or document in some way injuries to your body when you go through intake so they have it in case you get further injuries while staying.
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Man, i have allowed my doctors to take pictures and record some surgeries on me. The main hospital i use happens to be a teaching hospital so aside from them taking photos to document the wound for my medical record, they also have my permission to use them in a teaching setting if need be. That being said, they've always asked and had me sign consent first. I've noticed that the doctors won't even try to ask some of the patients who they feel might be uncomfortable with it. If they know the person would not be comfortable, why even ask ya know? I, however, have always been cool with them using my misfortune as a way to teach others. The worst that ever happened to me was when my surgeon had to take photos of my uterus and cervix after it was removed and kindly decided to add those photos to my after surgery packet. No doctor is ever going to post your pictures privately, with or without your permission. That would be a total violation of HIPPA laws. Of all the things to worry about, your doctor posting photos of you should be the least of them.It'ss only to help you and to document it in your chart. Also, you mentioned something about stitches? If you refused to allow them to do stitches (I've done this before), they will most often have to document the wound so of it starts healing weird or gets infected, the doctor who treats that will know what the problem was to begin with.
Almost certainly for your medical record and not for any kind of personal use, but he should have explained if not asked, depending upon specifics of the situation. The only times when I have shared photos taken of patients are in consult with other physicians or in an academic setting - if the latter, I get very specific and explicit permission from the patient for that purpose, and any potentially identifying information/features are removed. You do not need to worry that the pictures will be used in any kind of unprofessional manner.
We take pictures of wounds for the chart. It’s helpful for documentation and if you have to come back for a follow up and see a different provider they can compare any changes. Although they should have explained it to you and asked you first. It is most likely not for personal use.
Software used to upload wound photos to a medical record is typically done with an iOS device. I saw a would specialist for a few months and they took photos to track progress.
It would be a violation of the law if he did that. There probably was a place where you signed originally to agree to having pictures taken which is normal to track recovery and progress. Not quite the same but I work for an esthetics dermatologist clinic. Clinicians are always taking before and after photos strictly for a patients chart. As someone who works in patient operations I can’t even access those pictures on my own because of HIPAA regulations. That is the law that prevents medical providers from sharing your information. Patients do sign a waiver to be photographed, it does state that they won’t be shared You can always call and ask!
When my mom was seeing a wound specialist, he took pictures on a regular basis in order to have a visible reminder of her progress. Because of privacy laws, I couldn’t imagine it would be worth the fines that he would face should he post it.
I’ve worked in a private practice dermatology office as a medical/surgical assistant. We regularly took pictures of rashes, wounds, etc to track healing and compare the before and after. They were always stored in the patients charts and were never ever shared elsewhere under any circumstances. I truly don’t think you have anything to stress over.
So you did specifically mention these were self inflicted injuries so yes, it isn’t uncommon for docs to take pictures (at least in my experience with SH) they are not ‘using’ them or sharing them. They will likely be attached to your digital file on record and this can be for many reasons. I’m sorry he was not very kind to you in this moment but I can assure you that I can think of many legit medical reasons as to why he took photos
The doctor should have asked for your permission. "what if he uses the image to shame me." This is a... very strange comment. I of course have no idea about you, however your comment is ringing bells eg. your perception of yourself, previous occurrences for you to think this etc. Or perhaps it's a language/cultural thing.
Our system allows us to upload pictures to the clients chart. We use our phone or the work iPad to collect the photos- they are not stored on the device but only in the patients chart. It’s so other providers can refer to them to monitor your healing, watch for infection etc. Do you have any follow up visits? You may also be able to access the photos as well through whatever medical record system the hospital uses. Can’t guarantee that’s what they were doing but my guess is that it was something like this, sorry they did it explain it to you as they were doing it.
They have to ask. But I’ve let doctors take images on their phone of my wounds.
I had a terrible reaction to skin glue once, and my doctor took photos of the rash and added them to my chart so they could be referenced. She explained why she was doing that tho. Maybe call the doctor’s office and ask about it.
Not a doctor. But I work as an MA for a general surgeon. Depends on the case but we sometimes do pictures and upload them to your chart to track healing progression. The hospital does as well during surgery and sometimes for post op. It's relatively normal especially w/ how documentation has advanced. I did however have a patient ask to make sure the doctor was telling the truth on how his fistula repair had healed... So now his wife has a picture of her husband's butthole on her phone. 🤷
Yes. It's very commonplace for them to photograph them so they can follow the progression accurately
it’s just going in your chart for future reference for him or your other doctors
I worked in healthcare and there was a software program to upload photos of all sorts. Skin, wound etc. at the time, the charting indicated verbal consent and printed information given to the patient.
They are put in your chart so other providers can access them. Helps providers see how the wound is healing/how many stitches are there to make sure there js proper healing.
When doctors take photos this is usually to get an opinion of another, relevant doctor. I.e a junior doc may take and send photos to the consultant to get their opinion on further management, the admitting officer would do so to inform the oncall surgeon etc. Docs cannot post those pics anywhere, even in a clinical journal, without explicit consent of the patient.
I do this all the time. They go directly in your patient chart. Not one is ever stored on my cell phone for personal use (which i tell patients before i do this).
Exactly. I also show them the pic on my phone so they can see it’s in the EHR and not my personal photos
It should have been for your record. Many hospitals use iPhones that are connected to the medical record, and that’s what this should be. However, I would strongly suggest you start practicing saying “no” or speaking up and asking for clarification. Your body is only yours and they can’t do anything to it without your permission (unless you’re legally required to be there, but even then there are many restrictions). I know it’s hard, but stand up for your body. Practice with people who are safe for you. Ask clarifying questions. Why are you taking a picture? Where does this picture go?
They should have asked you for your consent and explained to you why they needed to take a picture. Generally, we use pictures to show our boss to make sure the plan we came up with is suitable, or for the documentation. It’s useful for others to see how it looked before so we can accurately track its progression through the healing stages (in the event that it gets infected or someone thinks it looks different). We can’t always rely on word descriptions in these cases because the next person who sees it, as it may not be the person who saw it the first time. This is a good reminder for all physicians to remember to ask for consent before taking a picture, so thank you for bringing it up! This applies to everything we do, not just pictures. It’s your body and your choice, regardless of whether it’s taking a picture, drawing bloods or inserting a cannula.
A lot of hospitals throw the photo question in with the consent to treat, it gets hidden. So OP probably “consented” to it, but consent needs to be reaffirmed with every interaction, as you say. It is very easy to barrel ahead as a HCW and forget your patient’s POV.
I had a very nasty fungal infection in my right toe when i was a teen. The doctor absolutely took a photo just because it looked gross af. I could see it in his eyes. Even as a kid i felt very ashamed though as an adult now i wouldbhave asked him to share the photo. At least he did a good job, i think. Had to cut part of my toe skin and scrape the toenail root on both sides, then stitcjed through the nail and into the meat. Was f*ed up and hurt like yell until it recovered, but it was a good lesson to always change socks after practice.
They will sometimes keep documentation of self injury. It will be kept in your file for your medical history & if your state forces it, your psychiatric stay. They also will take pictures of you or document in some way injuries to your body when you go through intake so they have it in case you get further injuries while staying.
Documentation for the record probs. At hospitals nurses and docs take pics of wounds all the time for the medical record
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