I called 911 for my mother a few nights ago based on symptoms described to me by her caregiver (we were both there at the time). I asked her to ride in the ambulance in case they needed a description of the events she witnessed and I followed. My sister met us there and we all stayed for her to be evaluated. It was just a scare and she was discharged with instructions to follow up with her doctors. Tonight I saw a post by the caregiver on a social media account from that night saying her client was having a heart attack, which was not accurate, and that she and my mother were at the house alone. Again not true, I live with my mom and was most definitely in the home and was the one who called 911. Am I correct in thinking this is odd behavior? Hopefully she is just embellishing the story to make it herself look more important but it is bothersome to me that she is bending the truth. I am mostly just venting but would appreciate any feedback.
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It all takes on even MORE significance if this caregiver is a Certified Nurse's Aide or Licensed Nurse. Talking about clients, especially on social media, is an absolute 100% violation of HIPAA laws and is grounds for immediate dismissal....certainly disciplinary action at the very least. Even if your loved one isn't mentioned by name, it's still a serious breach as there IS the possibility that someone could recognize your loved one in whatever details might have been given.
Lastly, I think the thing that would concern me most would be, if she's willing to falsify something THAT YOU WITNESSED...what is she doing when no one is around to see & is lying or embellishing about it?
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You can follow her lead and confont her publicly on fb, but that would be mean and unprofessional. However, you situation does not seem harmless to me.
Also, the caregiver's behavior could be an attempt to cover guilt, hoping that guilt is not about a mistake causing mom to go to the emergency room.
If you hired her through an agency, read the contract and see if she breached the terms by revealing privileged medical information. If you hired her directly, and decide to keep her, I'd write a contract and make her sign it, agreeing never again to reveal medical details of your mother's care or situation. Her behavior was inexcusable.
As to exaggerating the event, I think there could be a few possibilities:
1. She legitimately thought your mother was having a heart attack and in her own mind saw herself as a savior.
2. She legitimately thought your mother was having a heart attack but embellished the situation to enhance her own reputation, or to boost her self confidence.
However, if she actually claimed that your mother was having a heart attack, that's a little bit different, especially if she's not a trained medical person. There are symptoms, and medical people can be more confident in concluding a heart attack is in process, but it's my understanding that the best determination, in addition to the symptoms diagnosed by medical personnel, is the presence of triponin in the blood, obtained through blood work and analysis.
Nurses and CarlaB, contradict me if I'm wrong - this is just my understanding based on what an ER doctor told us once, about 20 years ago. Hopefully there are more accurate ways now.
In addition, the claim that you were not there adds to the inappropriateness of her posting, as well as being an outright lie. That would really bother me, and actually make me very angry.
I'd be considering (a) a frank talk (b) signed contract, with defined penalities for blabbing and misrepresentation and/or (c) finding another caregiver.