Medical Information
Shary
9 Posts
I work for a small community bank. Recently our Security Officer attending a training, and came back with a form that was suggested all our employees fill out. Part of that form was requesting medical information such as physician's name, address, blood type, allergies, medical conditions requiring treatment or medication and then they wanted them to fill out what the medication and treatment was. Can we ask for that information if there is no purpose such as FMLA, ADA, etc., other than having it in the file in case of an emergency?
Comments
Think about it. The loan officer collapses at his/her desk. What's the first thing you do?
Why, call HR, they have all this information about the EE. Oh by the way, only trained personnel are able to apply most of it. Blood type - don't do a desktop transfusion cause you might not have a match. And don't administer antibiotics because the EE is allergic to pennicillin and oh, by the way, the EE is diabetic, so don't give them candy - you will send them into shock.
If the EE has serious conditions, she/he should wear one of those medical alert bracelets that can advise the professionals that are trained in such care.
On the other hand, if the company has all of this information in it's possession, and some mistake related to this information is made, then who do you think they will come after? The company of course.
Access to the information is limited by HIPAA regulations, and what would most lay people do with it anyway? This is a bad idea.
In previous positions, I've asked for this type of information (physician's name, address, allergies, blood type). I've always said that the information provided by the ee was voluntary and would stay locked up in the HR/Safety Manager office and would only be used in the case of an emergency involving the ee. The intention was simply to aid the emergency responders with some initial medical information about the ee if the ee was unable to provide information at the time of injury. I've never gone so far as to inquire about previous treatments and current medications as I've felt that that information seems to invade the privacy of the ee too much. Decide what you want to require, if anything, and then do so for every employee. This will also require you to request updates from ee's (new allergies discovered, doctor's changed, etc.). If you don't think this is feasible, then I wouldn't proceed as the information could be out of date when and if an accident occurs...