Hospital broke rules on filming patients, inspectors want answers

The VU university’s teaching hospital broke patient confidentiality rules by allowing a television production company to record patients being treated at its accident and emergency department without their consent, the Dutch medical association KNMG said on Thursday.


The guidelines state no-one can be filmed without their consent, and this includes patients who are not in a position to give their consent, the KNMG said.
Television show Nieuwsuur reported on Wednesday night the hospital had allowed television production house Eyeworks to install 35 remote-controlled cameras to record activity in the department over a two-week period.
Consent
In total 1,500 people visited the A&E department while filming was taking place, and some 150 gave permission for Eyeworks to film them. However, some people were filmed without giving their permission.
One father told Nieuwsuur he had spent hours in the A&E department with his young daughter and was only told as they were going home everything had been filmed.
Eyeworks also filmed confidential conversations between the girl and a doctor, at which the father was not present. He has now submitted a formal complaint against the hospital.
Patients’ organisations also protested about the VU’s participation in the programme, saying MPs should ensure this can never happen again. Health ministry inspectors have also called for an investigation.
The show is due to be broadcast in early March on RTL.

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