1. You are a nurse manager and one of your staff needs to be out on medical leave for a minor procedure. She is expected to return in a week but calls and states she will need an additional week. You see her surgeon in the hallway the next day and ask him about the procedure and the additional time out of work. As her employer, do you have the right to ask for this information?  Explain your answer.
2. You have a very good friend who is a nurse practitioner and is away from the hospital on vacation. While she is out, her breast biopsy results come back. Because she had told you she was having this procedure, you felt it would be the right thing to do out of concern to look up her results and call her with this information. Is this appropriate?  Explain your answer.
3. You are an Orthopedic nurse at your hospital. Your spouse is here as an inpatient following exploratory surgery. You finish work and go up to your spouse's room to visit. Your spouse has not awakened from the procedure at this point. You go out to the nurses' station and pull the chart. Is this allowed because you are her spouse and practice at this hospital?
4. Is this allowed if your spouse signed an "Authorization to Release Information" form authorizing you to review the protected health information?

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When Can You Access a Patients Medical Information Heres a breakdown of the scenarios you described ... View the full answer