An administrative officer at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is under investigation for tweeting details of a veteran's surgery and mocking the procedure as a waste of taxpayer money, according to a Sept. 14 Military Times report.
Six things to know:
- The employee, who works in the hospital's anesthesia department, posted a screenshot of a medical note regarding the procedure. The patient was getting a penile implant to treat his erectile dysfunction.
- "72 y/o male gets government funded surgery [eggplant emoji]," the employee said on her Twitter account, @CarrieeeeC.
- The screenshot included the patient's surgery date, blood pressure, heart rate and several other vital signs, the Military Times reported.
- The employee's Twitter account has been deleted, according to the report.
- Gary Kunich, a spokesperson for the VA, told Becker's, "An investigation is underway and the employee has been removed from all access to Veteran medical records for the foreseeable future."
- The anesthesia note would qualify as being protected by HIPAA, according to the report.