Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've had doctors take many photos of my innards and several embarrasing photos of me pre-surgery, pretreatment. I know one of the waivers I've signed at a teaching hospital included giving then the right to take photos during surgery.
So if a doc wants a photo of my face, who cares? It will help to cut down on insurance fraud and ensure that I receive the right treatment.
My dentist did this. I must say, I really don't like it. It seems to me to be just over the top invasive to my privacy. If he can't remember who I am after treating me for years, I dont think he thinks much of me as a patient. Just my opinion.
I agree that this is over the top. The photo id (license) should be sufficient.
Do they update the photo every year or so; people age and can change appearance...hair color, weight, glasses, etc.
My dentist did this. I must say, I really don't like it. It seems to me to be just over the top invasive to my privacy. If he can't remember who I am after treating me for years, I dont think he thinks much of me as a patient. Just my opinion.
How exactly is this a invasion of your privacy? Every time you go out in public people see what you look like. Your face and what you look like are hardly private.
While this subject is not one I have come across until now it makes sense that a medical office would keep some way to visually identify a patient to verify that the person whose insurance is charged is in fact that person. While you may see the same Dr for years he probably sees hundreds of people a day and ca hardly be expected to know everyone personally. Not to mention staff such as nurses and receptionists can change. Would not want them handing out prescriptions to the wrong person. Considering how much people like to sue drs for malpractice etc it makes sense for them to cover themselves in every way possible.
I also think it is an invasion of privacy and just another way of Obama care delving into our personal lives . This has absoloutly nothing to do with malpractice unless someone thinks that drs will be emailing pictures of a patient who sues which I can see will be the next step in a long line of crap to come because these are the ramifications when big brother government gets into our healthcare and Im sorry but if the government cant find a jet liner and cant run a website how in the blue blazes am I going to trust my health care to them ....Nope sorry . I would never allow a dr or any health care professional to take my picture it is ridiculous that a dr cannot trust his staff or theirselves to know who you are unless they have a photo .
How exactly is this a invasion of your privacy? Every time you go out in public people see what you look like. Your face and what you look like are hardly private.
While this subject is not one I have come across until now it makes sense that a medical office would keep some way to visually identify a patient to verify that the person whose insurance is charged is in fact that person. While you may see the same Dr for years he probably sees hundreds of people a day and ca hardly be expected to know everyone personally. Not to mention staff such as nurses and receptionists can change. Would not want them handing out prescriptions to the wrong person. Considering how much people like to sue drs for malpractice etc it makes sense for them to cover themselves in every way possible.
I don't get it either. I worked in a medical office for almost 13 years and if people saw the mistakes that were made in paper charts, they would welcome it.
Now with the electronic records, what if they are accidentally in the last persons chart that they saw, thinking they signed into yours and just start typing away?
I welcome it. I don't like that they take a ratty looking picture, but it is a picture of ME.
My doctors know what I look like. Doesn't matter if they have treated me for years or a day.
Are doctors invading your privacy when they ask you when the last time you had a bowel movement was?
My dentist did this. I must say, I really don't like it. It seems to me to be just over the top invasive to my privacy. If he can't remember who I am after treating me for years, I dont think he thinks much of me as a patient. Just my opinion.
I agree completely. I believe in most states one has the option to get a State Driver's License and/or a State ID and I have to believe at this point in time each state DL or ID has a photo ID. I believe one poster had already mentioned that their ID was scanned into their file for identification purposes. It seems as if this should be more than enough to ID someone unless they are a twin, triplet...etc.
In the past I have noticed that as soon as 'we' 'fix' something to make it better what will usually happen is a host of unintended 'consequences'...then 'we' are on the trail of the next 'big fix'. All the so called experts in the it industry cannot prevent hackers from getting our financial information from wherever we shop because as soon as a 'fix' is in place the next little Einstein steps up to tackle a way around it.
No thanks and I would like to believe enough is enough already but instead I will suggest we prepare ourselves because this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Last edited by HomeIsWhere...; 08-24-2014 at 08:00 AM..
However, I know that in some states pain management doctors are required by law to take photos of their patients, and others do so to protect themselves. This is done to verify that the doctor conducted a face-to-face physical examination of the patient, and didn't just prescribe a controlled substance over the internet.
It is really not unusual for an ophthalmologist at all. By taking a baseline photo and then another photo each succeeding year they are able to track the changes in the tissues around your eyes. There are very strict insurance guidelines for when a patient meets the criteria to have extra tissue which may be blocking their vision removed. It has to be measured, tested and documented. The photos are part of that process.
For me to not cooperate in the process which will provide me with optimal vision would be self-defeating.
My hospital actually takes it a step further and takes a fingerprint.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pikantari
I have been a total regular at my hospital ER lately due to surgical complications and they do a palm print.
Fingerprints and palm prints?! I'd feel like I was being treated like a criminal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowfax
How exactly is this a invasion of your privacy? Every time you go out in public people see what you look like. Your face and what you look like are hardly private.
Out in public people will know what you look like, but they wouldn't be able to associate your looks with your name, since I presume you don't walk around with your name stamped on your shirt or your forehead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar
It is really not unusual for an ophthalmologist at all. By taking a baseline photo and then another photo each succeeding year they are able to track the changes in the tissues around your eyes. There are very strict insurance guidelines for when a patient meets the criteria to have extra tissue which may be blocking their vision removed. It has to be measured, tested and documented. The photos are part of that process.
Changes in tissue are inside your head. Taking a picture of your face only shows the outside, which won't tell them what's changing on the inside.
Fingerprints and palm prints?! I'd feel like I was being treated like a criminal.
Out in public people will know what you look like, but they wouldn't be able to associate your looks with your name, since I presume you don't walk around with your name stamped on your shirt or your forehead.
Changes in tissue are inside your head. Taking a picture of your face only shows the outside, which won't tell them what's changing on the inside.
Oh when you have been vomiting for hours and are weak and have pancreatitis you will welcome slapping your palm up there.
It has nothing to do with "Obama care" properly known as ACA, or any other government rule.
Our office has 16 providers and 3 receptionists. There is no way we can "know" every patient who shows up for an appointment, pick up prescriptions, or ask to speak to someone in the business office (beyond the locked door).
As far as Jr and Sr looking alike, happens all the time. Then there's the brothers Mark and Mike. And I have 3 Smiths with the same birthdate and 2 of the are Robert.
But most common is fraud. Either they are picking up a prescription that they heard their friend phone in for, and the friend shows up later after work for the prescription. The parent who has 6 kids but 2 of the kids are not on the insurance plan...for goodness sake they all look alike! We have one family with 5 boys! We had one case where a patient "borrowed" his friend's medicaid card (there is no picture on it and the patient does not have a photo ID because he does not drive and our state does not mandate a photo ID), was examined by the physician, surgery was recommended, and it was the hospital who caught the discrepancy when the patient checked in for surgery. Not as often, but even medicare fraud happens. A medicare card does not have a photo on it, just a social security number. We are not allowed to require a social security number as a form of identification. So we have a photo ID (let's say driver's license) and a medicare card. Neither has anything that we can cross-verify to the other. Your photo is not on the medicare card and your ssn is not on the license. The only thing we have to match is the name. Let's just say that you know how to alter the medicare card. And it's not about the retired persons doing this. Many people, of all ages, are covered by medicare due to disability. How many people have lost their wallets in their lifetimes? I know I have at least once. ID theft is rampant all over the world, not just in the US.
If the doctor wants to get payed, then the doctor has to be sure that the person presenting at the window is the person who owns the insurance or medicare/medicaid qualification. This has absolutely nothing to do with big brother wanting to be all up in your business. We can fix this by giving insurance to everyone so that no one has to lie about having insurance. But then big brother would be all up in your business and some of you would not like that either.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'd feel like I was being treated like a criminal.
