Meningitis - Right to know

HR in CA

Help!

An employee has been diagnosed with Viral Meningitis. We want to inform those employees who many have had contact with her, especially those with weakened immune systems. With HIPAA and other confidentially issues we are concerned. Have any of you had an experience you can share?
THANKS!

rad

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-16-04 AT 01:47PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I had viral meningitis and my family memebers never caught it. It sounds scarier than it is (and feels worse than you can imagine). Do not confuse it with bacterial meningitis which is deadly. The CDC website has some info on this disease and perhaps can offer some guidance now that we live in a HIPAA world.

Edit - I was student teaching at the time and because it was viral, the school did not notify parents. Don't know if that bit of info helps.

HR in CA

Thanks Rad!

twochr

HIPAA prevents you from giving out info that you received from your health plan. If you received the information about the employee having the disease from your medical carrier, then you would be in violation of HIPAA. If you heard it from the employee's family or friends or fellow-employees, then it is not a violation of HIPAA. Also, someone, say the employee's supervisor, could inform the people who have had direct contact with her/him. By the way, bacterial meningitis can be treated with antibiotics, viral meningitis cannot. Therefore, viral can be very difficult to treat and can end in death. I had a relative who died from it.

KathiHR

I just dealt with this exact issue. A receptionist at one of our offices had some seizures & was admitted to the hospital with bacterial meningitis. What concerned me was that we had recently moved an entire program to that office, & they were temporarily working in very close quarters with each other. She had been at work sick for at least a week, coughing, thinking it was flu/cold. Like you, I felt like the employees deserved to know that they had been exposed, but I knew I couldn't tell them what she had. So I contacted the Health Dept & got info, then I was going to put together a flyer, basically "this is the season for bacterial meningitis & these are the symptoms & for further info contact..." with reference to the health dept info, all without naming her. As it turned out, she was more concerned about her co-workers than her privacy, so she called into the office, talked to a lot of them, & wanted them to let everyone know what she had. She was especially concerned about employees with young children. If this happens again, I'm going with the flyer.

As was said, its bacterial that's the killer. Viral, even though it makes you wish you could die, is more along the lines of the flu.