So if the manager of those who have been sacked had told them to look at the records because the manager thought it might benefit their learning, their knowledge or their clinical practice then it would have been ok?
But if the staff had chose to look at the records for those same reasons but they had made the decision for themselves it then becomes a sackable offence?
I’m purely just playing devil’s advocate here.
That’s why I say it’s a grey area.
You say there has to be a permittable reason to look at patient notes, but when it comes to the teaching of students….. do practice educators have the right to allow students to go through lots of patient’s notes and medical records without gaining consent from the patient first? I imagine not but I’m sure it happens all the time.
Like I said, I’m not justifying what these staff members did and I’m glad action has been taken and the issue has been bought into the public domain, but it would be interesting to know what their reasons were for why they did it. I would hope that none of them did it for ghoulish or voyeuristic reasons or to provide information to the press as has been suggested in this thread, which is a horrific thought.
I imagine it was purely for medical interest which although may sound awful to those not in the field, but for those who are in the profession I can understand why they may have wanted to read more and have a deeper understanding/knowledge about the case/injuries/treatment (or whatever specifics they were looking at) more than the average person would.
Accessing the records isn’t morally right but from a professional angle (especially from a learning point of view) I can see why some would think it would be an ok thing to do.
I imagine though that those who have been sacked didnt have any good reason to explain why they did it as I’m sure their explanations would have been taken into account when the decision was made about their punishment. So I’m glad that those who were sacked received the appropriate punishment for their actions.