So, I got a weird call a while back. A nurse from another prison facility reached out to me. She had my extension somehow, and honestly, she sounded pretty stressed but also super sweet and knowledgeable. She explained that an inmate was demanding info about the hypertension med he was given in my facility. Apparently, the Nurse Practitioner was pressuring her to get the name and dosage from us. I told her to check with medical records, but she begged me to just look it up in our system because she was getting yelled at by the NP. This was a Friday, so I figured it might be an urgent matter.
Normally, I’d shut it down right away since we have strict laws about patient info, but she seemed so desperate. She gave me some details, and I said I’d pass it on to my supervisor.
I looked up the inmate’s name in the system, and sure enough, he was in a Maryland facility. But here’s the kicker — the guy’s been locked up for 18 years! That means he was on a cardiac med when he was 22, which doesn’t seem right. Even weirder, he was never at my prison. After the call, I realized she’d lied about where he was supposed to be. So, what was going on? I still don’t get it. Was she just confused or was someone trying to trick me into something? I have no idea.
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My first thought is that she might have been trying to get you to break HIPAA laws. You definitely don’t want to risk your job over that, and it’s a risky move since someone could even blackmail you if they know you gave out confidential info.
Another thing — maybe this whole thing was a way to bypass the usual steps to get a prescription for meds. If she was asking for it to be sent to another address outside her facility, that would be even more suspicious.
The fact that it was an urgent request, outside normal hours, is a red flag. That’s something you see in scams trying to rush you into making a mistake.
It might be that the inmate was messing with her. Inmates are known to make up all kinds of stories. Maybe someone is following up on whether he was ever at your prison. But I think even a private investigator could check those records without needing to bother you for it.
@hustle
Good point. But here’s the thing — she would know he had been in there for 18 years. No nurse would seriously call asking for info on a med from 18 years ago. It just doesn’t add up.
Just an idea from someone not in the medical field… If you had given her the med name, she might have turned it into a blackmail situation. She could’ve said you gave her confidential info and threatened to ruin your career unless you paid up.
@Mia
That’s possible. But she knew which prison he was in. She said she was calling from that prison. But he was never in mine. I guess if she was a scammer, maybe she thought he was here and was trying to blackmail me.
dalton1 said:
Maybe you should try asking in a medical forum instead? I think you’d get better feedback on the situation.
I did post in the nursing forum, but I thought this scam forum might give me a different perspective since there’s nothing really medical I need to figure out.
I’m wondering if the inmate just gave her the wrong facility by mistake? I’ve worked in teleradiology and had patients insist they’d had scans done at a place, only for us to find out it was their first time at the hospital.
This could have been a test from your supervisors or maybe even someone you’ve had issues with in the past. It’s also possible the inmate had someone out there trying to mess with you. Inmates stick together, and they’ll go to great lengths to get at staff they don’t like. Glad you followed the rules though.