Question:

Essay

Write an essay discussing the actions and professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities of the nurse under current legislation, codes and standards presented in the case scenario.

Case Study

Sally Smith is a graduate Registered Nurse working in a busy Emergency department at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. During her lunch break she is told by a colleague that Billy Mercury, a famous golf player, had been admitted following a large drug overdose. Sally was working in another section of the Emergency department, but she was a big fan of Billy’s, so she left her section without telling her supervisor and went to look at Billy.

On the way, she saw Billy’s medical record had been left open at the nurse’s station, so she stopped and read through it, taking photos of each page on her mobile phone. She peeked inside Billy’s cubicle and saw that he had his eyes closed and was pale, very dishevelled and had green and brown vomit down the front of his clothes. Sally took photos of Billy, including some with her sitting on the side of the bed and making faces at Billy.

Later that shift, Sally sent the photos of Billy and his medical record to her friends and uploaded them to her Facebook account, identifying the Emergency department and the name of the hospital. Sally also emailed them to the local news station and asked if they would buy them from her for $1,000.