Case Study: Social Media & Defamation

Nurse A has been working for a small regional hospital, as a Nurse Practitioner in the emergency department for the last 6 years. Although challenging at times, she enjoys working in a fast-paced environment. She typically treats patients with a wide variety of injuries, severe medical conditions or trauma.

On a Wednesday morning, a patient named Robert arrives at the emergency department, presenting with severe back pain. Robert is triaged by emergency room staff. He seems to be in discomfort and reports a mild numbing sensation in his feet that is inhibiting his ability to walk. Robert immediately asks for something to help with the pain. After conducting a routine physical examination and asking the appropriate questions, Nurse A cannot find a reason for his pain but provides him with ibuprofen. He indicates that he woke up with the pain and has not been in an accident or injured himself to his knowledge. He asks for something stronger than the ibuprofen he had received a few minutes prior.

Nurse A declines his request and explains that they must first determine what is causing the pain before treating it. As she begins to write requisitions for additional tests, Robert gets increasingly frustrated and starts yelling at her and calling her names. She calmly asks him to wait in the room while she completes the requisitions at the nurses’ station. Robert abruptly stands and begins pacing in the room, exhibiting none of the mobility issues he had just expressed to her.

Due to the strange behaviour and aggression, she decides to consult with the physician on duty. After explaining the situation, he responds that he doesn’t have time for the conversation, and that she should be trained well enough to figure it out on her own. Frustrated, she completes the test requisitions and returns to Robert’s room, only to find that he has left. She documents the encounter and moves on to other patients.

Later that afternoon, Kerry, a woman in her mid-30s comes in to renew her hypothyroidism medication. As she does not have a family doctor, an emergency clinic is sometimes her only option. Through friendly chitchat, Nurse A and Kerry realize they have a lot in common: they both go to the same gym and have always wanted to join a book club. After she leaves, Nurse A looks at the file to write down Kerry’s last name and subsequently adds her on Facebook and follows her on Instagram. She thinks they would be great friends. When Nurse A gets home from work that night, she sits down at her laptop and signs on to Facebook. Still fuming about what happened earlier with Robert, she posts the following on her private Facebook page:

“Had the most aggressive patient today on shift who was clearly faking an injury to get drugs. Guess you shouldn’t trust people who choose to get a purple tiger tattooed on their hand! Also, to my fellow nurses make sure you stay clear of Dr. Smith next time you need any kind of help with a patient.”

A few weeks later Nurse A is asked to meet with her supervisor and human resources. Robert, the patient who had stormed out on her, has contacted the hospital, and is threatening legal proceedings against her for defamation. Apparently, Robert’s boss came across Nurse A’s post on Facebook through a mutual friend and has now suspended Robert until he undergoes further drug testing. Although Robert was not named, his boss is convinced it was him as Robert took a sick day that same day and has a tattoo of a tiger on his hand. Nurse A is not familiar with defamation and did not know nurses could be held accountable for a post made to their private Facebook page.

A few months later, Nurse A also receives a notice from her nursing regulator that they will be investigating her behavior relating to the social media post.

Resources

1. Please consult our Defamation InfoLAW to find out more.
2. For more information regarding the defenses, please consult our Defamation InfoLAW.
3. Ibid.

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