A policy has been adopted by the ambulance service board requiring employees to not publicize information obtained while working.
Bill Bartleman
The Paducah Sun
Copyright 2007 The Paducah Sun
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
CLINTON, Ky. — John Snow says he’s sorry if he upset any Hickman County residents with a Web site on which he detailed some of his work as a paramedic with the Clinton-Hickman County Ambulance Service.
He said rumors about what was on the site were considerablely worse than what was actually posted. “The rumors were that there were pictures of someone who died in my care, but that’s not true,” Snow said. “I never never took a photo of anyone I was treating.”
He also said reports that he took photos with the camera in his cell phone were wrong.
He said photos on the Web site were from car wrecks, shootings and cases in other states, except for a photo of a co-worker who lost a finger in an accident involving an engine. He said only the finger was shown and the co-worker’s name was not given.
However, he did offer details of some local ambulance calls, said Paula Boaz, ambulance service director. Although Snow didn’t use names, Boaz said local residents may have been able to identify victims “because we are a small town.”
Boaz said she launched an investigation immediately after someone complained about the Web site on Feb. 14 to make sure no privacy laws were violated, especially the federal law known as the Hospital Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that was enacted by Congress to protect the privacy of people who receive medical treatment.
“I spent a week on the phone talking with state officials and with HIPAA, and was told no action would be taken,” she said. “There were no violations because no names were used.”
Boaz said the complaint involved a posting by Snow in which he said he had transported a local nurse to the hospital who had a heart attack. She said because there are only a few nurses in Hickman County, some residents were able to determine her identity.
Boaz said that Snow, who has worked for the ambulance service for 10 years, was told to take down the site, which he did a couple of weeks ago.
“He might have done something that was morally wrong, but he didn’t do anything illegal or violate any policies, so his only discipline was a warning,” Snow said. “No consideration was given to firing him.”
The ambulance board adopted a policy Tuesday requiring all employees to sign a statement promising they would not publicize any information they obtained while working for the ambulance service.
“If it happens again, he would violate a policy and would be terminated,” Boaz said.
Snow, meanwhile, said the site was meant more for other ambulance workers than for the general public.
“Whenever friends and fellow EMS workers get together, we swap war stories,” he said. “This was just a way of swapping war stories without identifying victims.”
He said he supports the HIPAA privacy laws and would never intentionally do or say anything to identify people he treats and transports.