Citizen Staff Writer
TY BOWERS
tybowers@tucsoncitizen.com
Tucson police are investigating staffers at University Medical Center alleged to taken “inappropriate photographs” of a patient or patients last week, a police spokesman said Thursday.
UMC suspended eight employees – four nurses and four patient-care technicians – for their alleged involvement in Friday’s incident, hospital spokeswoman Katie Riley said.
A TPD officer went to the hospital about 10 p.m. April 24, after receiving a call about “an allegation of misconduct,” police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said.
As of Thursday morning, police and hospital officials had not revealed the nature of the photos, which UMC workers allegedly snapped with a cell phone camera.
Photographs taken without a patient’s consent would violate UMC policies and federal law, and – depending on what the images depict – criminal statutes as well, Pacheco said.
“We’re very, very strict here,” Riley said of UMC’s enforcement of patient privacy rules. “This is just an investigation at this point.”