The images are more than hospital staffers behaving badly, but point to a lack of ethical training and the inappropriate use of social media.
At the Jacksonville Navy Hospital, two unnamed staffers decided to make inappropriate videos of newborns and then post the videos to a Snapchat account. Until the investigation is concluded, the staffers are not allowed to be near patients and a new policy has been implemented that bars staffers from bringing cell phones into patient areas. For the life of me, I do not know why such a policy took so long in coming. More than hospital staffers behaving badly? 
“Mini Satan’s?”
The images that appeared on Snapchat showed staffers mishandling newborns. In one video, the staffer was in gloves and medical scrubs. She is holding the infant by the armpits and “dancing” the infant along to the rap music. The other staffer is shown “flipping her middle finger at the infant.” There is a caption on the video that reads: “How I currently feel about these mini Satans.”
The image is from the Snapchat account of one of the hospital staffers. Obviously, the video has the capability of going viral but more importantly, it violates all patient privacy laws. Yes, I well understand the nature of Snapchat is that images usually disappear, however new features enable storage of images and videos and therein lies a whole new – and disturbing aspect in cases such as these. The parents of the newborns have been notified of inappropriate behavior on the part of staff members. It sets up a potentially disturbing pattern of staffers taking pictures or videos of any patient for any number of purposes.
In this particular case, commanding officers have been ordered to make sure that no images of the newborns or any other patients remain on social media. The hospital’s area director has issued the following statement:
“Unprofessional and inappropriate social media behavior is inconsistent with both our core values of honor, courage and commitment as well as our medical ethics, violating the oaths we took for our profession and office. In an age where information can be shared instantly, what we say and post online must reflect the highest standards of character and conduct, in both our personal and professional lives.”
It is a “loaded statement,” and may be examined from many standpoints, not the least of which is how these hospital workers are being selected and trained for such assignments. In this one, specific instance the hospital took great care to emphasize the two staffers were not nurses but probably corpsmen. This provides me with little comfort. The unethical behavior was conducted without oversight. It also does not guarantee or even imply that other staff members at this, or other hospitals are not doing the same thing. That the hospital shared the video with parents is “positive,” but it is not the video per se, it is the attitude of the staff and the mishandling of patients that should cause us great worry.
Newborns with Newborn Technology
As I frequently remind my audiences, the social media in and of itself, is also a newborn. Snapchat, for example, is only six years old. We believe that it is a highly sophisticated technology used by (mainly) Millennials who obviously are expert at “technical stuff.”
The software may be somewhat sophisticated, but the users may range from 11-year-olds who are making a video of a puppy to “adults” who send explicit photos of one another, to hospital staffers who decide to share images of patients with their friends.
In other words, there are no “filters.” Please don’t confuse the sophistication of the software that drives a social media platform, with the sophistication of the user. They are two entirely different factors.
Case in point was what just occurred at this hospital. Had ethics been in play, had the staffers the ethical sophistication to understand that what they were doing was inappropriate, the social media platform would have never been used for this purpose. Undoubtedly someone within the circle of these staffers realized that what had transpired was inappropriate and it was reported. Someone was behaving ethically.
Technology of any kind must be handled ethically. It is why automobiles are not permitted to go 80 mph through a school zone. Unless users are taught good ethics and unless they are made aware of the consequences of their choices, they will continue to make poor decisions. The staffers in question here made poor choices, but my guess is that they never even connected their behavior with the improper use of the technology. Unless they are taught, they will never learn. More than hospital staffers behaving badly?
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