I am shocked.. really. A friend recently had a pretty serious emergency (his artery was cut in an accident with a large piece of glass). He had a ridiculous lack of privacy through his ordeal and surgery/recovery but he was in an inner city teaching hospital. He accepted it as the price to pay for the nearest medical help. THIS is not comparable. You were in an orthopedic surgeon's office.

Were they undergoing renovations or something that would require them to maximize space? My experience (and far too much of it) with orthopedic surgeons has been that they offices are VERY nice. I am really surprised that they would not only double up patients in a room but also add storage to the room.

Very odd.

SO how is your wrist?

WOW! I'm speechless over that. It's wrong on so many levels.

So this was not a doc in a box, not an ER-type exam, I am blown away. There has got to be another capable orthopedic practice in your area. I'd not think twice before I transferred my records to a more "comfortable" fit.

There is an expectation of privacy (at least in my world) when one goes to a doctor for a consult. Of course, in the ER and such, the expectation of privacy is lessened, but in my own experience, the staff in the ER still make an attempt to keep your visit as separate from the other patients' as is possible in that setting.

Everyone's privacy expectations may be different. That said, if the doc you are visiting is some type of specialist that cannot be gotten anywhere else, or you have some sort of unusual medical situation that just finding someone/anyone with knowledge and practical experience with your condition, is a triumph. I can understand tolerating the lack of privacy in that scenario as I've BTDT.

Yes, how did you make out with your wrist? Are you comfortable staying with that practice?

I wonder if this is what we have to look forward to when the medical profession talks about "cost cutting" LOL

Seriously though, it reminds me of when I was admitted into a hospital once in Monterrey Mexico. 2 women to a bed, one facing one direction with her feet at the others head. Yup...turn your head and see feet! And no privacy what so ever.

This is in direct violation of HIPAA laws, they should be reported.

Here is a link that might be useful: HIPAA

Wow, that is an odd experience. If you really like the doc maybe you can insist on a private room next visit. I guess they figure most people don't mind and that little sign covers them.

Years ago I worked at a hospital in the medical records dept. Ironically, I cut my finger while gathering records in the Emergency Room. Even as an injured on the job employee, I still had to sit in the hall and wait to be treated. While sitting there, I can't tell you how many other employees, most of whom had never previously spoken to me, stopped to ask what happened. I thought thank goodness it's nothing too personal or intimate. Much to my amusement, the finger that had to be stitched was "tall man" from the nursery rhyme so I was able to innocently express my feelings while showing all those nosy co-workers my injury.

And to add insult to a true injury, my manager contacted Human Resources to see if they could dock me for the time I spent in the ER. For an injury that occurred at work! It was a swell place to work.

Well, I don't know; it doesn't seem all that bad to me. Nothing very private going on for either of you, so what difference did it really make? So they saw your X-Ray and you heard about cast removal, that's all. You would have had a private room if you'd asked for it, and if the medical issues being discussed were private for either of you, I'm betting you would have been assigned a private room in the first place.

No big deal, at least not for me.

Sherrmann, at first I thought that too -- that it's *maybe* somewhat excusable because there wasn't anything "private" going on. But WOW, that's a very very slippery slope--who gets to define "private"? HIPAA violation for sure. When my daughter was 3 and broke her arm, she always got a private room at the ortho, even just for checking the cast.

Was this a triage-type place, where they were just doing a quick assessment? Or was it actual exam room?

That sounds so peculiar....why couldn't they have AT LEAST pulled a curtain between the two sides similar to what they'd have in an Urgent Care or ER? I'm just relieved it was an orthopedic surgeon and not an OB-GYN or urologist. :)

I don't care what the injury, there is no excuse for ANYONE to listen in. Unless it's in an ER. Period.

If you don't have to go back to this doctor, I wouldn't.

However, I can relate! My last trip to the ER I had kidney stones. There was a VERY old lady in the bed next to me, separated by curtains.

I had no idea what was wrong with me, I was on the floor doubled over, and the nurse took urine and said she was pretty sure I had a kidney stone.

The old lady kept saying over and over, "Yep, I think she's got a kidney stone. LOL. They had doped me up on both Morphine and Demerol for the pain so at the time I just laughed.

However, if there wasn't a curtain between us, I'd have been embarrassed out of my mind because I was in my jammies and literally doubled over on the floor!

My preteen daughter and I had a similar experience at a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon's office. It was a group of surgeons and during every step of the way everyone was sitting on top of everyone else. Crowded waiting room, jammed hallway waiting to get x rays and another crammed room where four or five people were getting casts. We did have a private exam room where the Dr. briefly spoke to us and examined my daughter. Other than that, absolutely no privacy. We some some pretty gory stuff too. The really bad off people seemed to get a little extra privacy but not much. Totally weird.

I had the same experience when I broke my wrist, for my follow up visit, a week after surgery. We were 4 cases to a room. This was a hospital setting though, not a private clinic. We have government run medicare here in Canada, so whatever it takes to keep the costs down, I'm for it. The ortho clinics are very busy. Everyone's fully clothed so I don't mind the proximity, it was all arms and legs being seen.

Graywings, as Polly noted, this set-up is in direct violation of HIPPA regulations. A lot of the HIPPA stuff to me is ridiculous, but I certainly feel every patient is entitled to a private consultation. I think if they want to ask you if you would mind sharing a consultation room with other patients that would not be so terrible. To expect you to share the space is inappropriate, imo.

What if the cause of an injury was domestic violence? Would everyone be so forthcoming about that in front of strangers? What if alcohol or drug abuse were involved in the injury? Would a person feel at ease disclosing that in front of other patients? These are just a couple of sticky situations I can think of that a lack of privacy could interfere with. Even if an injury was sustained without anything sinister going on, if a patient prefers a private consultation, that's enough reason to have access to one.

How are you doing?

I hate to sound rude, but knowing the reputation of orthopedic surgeons, I'm not surprised that doctor convenience comes before patient privacy in some offices. It's a total violation.

As for the discussions not being too private, imagine if the kid in the room was a recruited athlete, whose injuries could have major ripple effects. Not saying this was the case, just putting it out there as a thought.

That's awful. I had a similar experience with medical privacy a couple weeks ago, although not as freaky as yours (I can't imagine sharing an exam room - that's bizarre and yes, definitely a violation of privacy practices.)

My mom had her hip replaced and the hopsital had a very nice surgical waiting room where the families of patients in surgery could wait while the surgery was in progress - free coffee, lots of TVs, comfy chairs, the whole bit. As the surgeons finished up, they would come up and call for the family, then take them into sort of a cubicle thing to tell them how the surgery went. It was weird, because the cubicle thing wasn't really private at all and I could hear every word the surgeons said. I actually got to hear one surgeon discuss some woman's breast cancer with her husband - a lengthy discussion all about her prognosis (which was not good) and treatment options. The husband was in tears getting this news (apparently, the cancer was much further along than they expected) and I was tearing up in the waiting room just listening. I felt so bad that this horrible moment was basically being carried out with an audience and that the poor guy didn't get the dignity of grieving in private. I tried not to listen, but they were literally less than 20 feet away behind a 5 ft high cubicle wall - there really wasn't any getting around it. There were at least 15 people in the waiting room at the time too. It was awful.

I'd bet my right arm that there are no HIPPA violations going on in that office. Doctors aren't fools and they know the rules. Maybe they're pushing the envelope, but I'll bet they're not breaking the law....not that many times a day with that many patients.

I would have said something and would not go back. That is just me.

Due to my chemo I did not go into the dental office to sit with dd during her cleaning. DDS had to speak with me. I asked if we could speak in reception area and he said no, because of HIPPA, even if I said it was ok. He was more than happy to chat outside so as to not compromise HIPPA or my health.

My most recent situation brought about a visit which lacked privacy in a very similar way.

I had to see the nuc med guy to have dye injected into my breast to light up the lymph nodes. We go into this large room with 4 tables and 4 big MRI/Xray machine thingys. There were curtains dividing the areas. I was taken to table 3, I could hear a man was in 4. As the tech worked on me, discussing my breast and exposing my chest I could hear everything going on with the man in 4. I had to listen to this poor man cough and cough and cough and gag and moan. Several times his tech pulled the curtain, almost exposing me to the man in 4. My tech kept telling him to stop and be more careful. It was very awkward having to have needles poked into my nipple, injecting me with nuc med that burned like acid. I talk through pain and it was awkward telling my tech outloud how much it burned. The whole time I kept thinking how my privacy was being invaded by this man next to me, even though his coughing was probably keeping him from paying much attention to me. That was the most painful part of any treatment I have had to endure both physically and mentally. I won't even dwell on the germs that were floating in the air from that man while a needle was being poked into me.

Sherrmann, you might be right. Doubt any office would be that brazen, maybe they are set up like an ER and consider it ok. When I am getting chemo I sit 6' from the next chair and hear their stuff. That is not considered to violate HIPPA so there has to be some small print in the rules.

I still would asked for a private room before the exam.

Lots of people misunderstand what HIPAA is really about. It is not about privacy in the doctorÂs office, per se, but more about how your health information is shared with others, and how others may use it. For example, how your doctor can share the information with other people in your family, other treatment providers, insurance entities, etc. and how YOU have control and in what ways.

Calling your name in a doctorÂs office, or another patient hearing details as you are being treated in a treatment setting are not really HIPAA issues.

That is true. I think most of the comments here really fall more into simple privacy issues but we keep hearing so much about "HIPAA" every where we go that I think it just gets used more broadly.