Patient Confidentiality and Facebook

In The Ethicist column of the New York Times yesterday, Randy Cohen wrote about medical students posting pictures and comments about patients on Facebook. I am sometimes a bit surprised by what my attending colleagues and friends post about patients, too. Sometimes they write about specific details regarding other physicians, hospital operations, and patient encounters. As medical professionals, shouldn't our integrity and respect extend beyond the clinical arena to Facebook and other online forums?

Click Here to read The Ethicist article.