2 Hospital Workers Fired For Taking Patient Photos

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Two employees at University of New Mexico Hospital have been fired for taking photos with cell phone cameras of patients receiving treatment and posting them to a Web site.

Director of Public Affairs Sam Giammo said Sunday the photos were mainly close-ups of injuries being treated and were put on an employee’s private MySpace page.

Giammo says he doesn’t know why the employees took the photos.

He says dozens of photos were taken in the hospital’s emergency room over the past few months.

Giammo says three to four other hospital employees were disciplined and the investigation is ongoing.

He says the patients could not be notified of the photos because their faces and personal identifying features had been removed.

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