Patmon Darin, Sandhu Harminder, Girotto John, Ford Ronald
From the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2023 Aug 3;11(8):e5162. doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000005162. eCollection 2023 Aug.
The use of photography in plastic surgery has become standard of practice in recent years. Patient photographs have diverse utility and can be used to visualize medical progression, and as an educational and marketing tool. With increased publication of patient photographs outside the healthcare records, it is important to understand patient privacy rights and how they pertain to images. Additionally, it is valuable to understand the legal consequences associated with dissemination of patient photographs without proper consent.
A retrospective analysis of the Lexis+ legal database was conducted to obtain cases that involved the improper dissemination of patient photographs or videos by surgeons. Inclusion criteria included civil cases in which the defendant was a surgeon being sued for the improper use of patient photographs. Criminal cases were excluded from analysis.
A total of 23 cases met the inclusion criteria for our study. On average, 2.13 defendants were listed per case, often including the accused surgeon and their employer. Prior photographic consent was obtained in 69.57% (n = 16) of cases. In the remaining seven cases, the defendant did not obtain consent. In all seven of these cases, either the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff or both parties reached a settlement outside court.
To mitigate risk, surgeons should maintain two separate photographic consent forms for internal and external use. Additionally, a formal audit process should be established to ensure proper consent has been established before publishing patient photographs external to the electronic medical records.
近年来，摄影在整形外科中的应用已成为行业规范。患者照片具有多种用途，可用于直观展示医疗进展，也可作为教育和营销工具。随着患者照片在医疗记录之外的发布增多，了解患者隐私权以及这些权利如何适用于图像变得很重要。此外，了解未经适当同意传播患者照片所带来的法律后果也很有价值。
对Lexis+法律数据库进行回顾性分析，以获取外科医生不当传播患者照片或视频的案例。纳入标准包括被告为因不当使用患者照片而被起诉的外科医生的民事案件。刑事案件被排除在分析之外。
共有23个案例符合我们研究的纳入标准。每个案例平均列出2.13名被告，通常包括被指控的外科医生及其雇主。在69.57%（n = 16）的案例中获得了事先的摄影同意。在其余七个案例中，被告未获得同意。在所有这七个案例中，要么法院做出了有利于原告的裁决，要么双方在庭外达成了和解。
为降低风险，外科医生应为内部和外部使用分别保留两份单独的摄影同意书。此外，应建立正式的审核流程，以确保在电子病历之外发布患者照片之前已获得适当的同意。
