Legalities of release forms in photography

[pixmedic]

Many rules & regs seem to vary state to state and others that agencies follow are federal; as an employee it might be a good idea to share information you find thru your research with your agency so they can be proactive in making sure they are following appropriate laws related to this.

It is not an issue of following the appropriate laws.
It is the issue of putting your organization at risk of litigation that potentially could be very detrimental to the organization - even if you win.

Do not use patients who receive mental health services for advertising, even if they do sign a consent form.
The downstream risks for litigation and adverse publicity are too great.

seriously....who would want themselves or a family member being treated in a facility that would put their patients faces on advertising brochures?
It would make me seriously question their privacy practices.
maybe they DO sign releases...and maybe down the road they realize the don't want their face on a mental health facility advertisement, and they get a lawyer to go before a judge and say they weren't mentally competent enough to understand the long term ramifications of what they signed at the time they signed it.
maybe they even claim the facility coerced them into signing it. or threatened lesser treatment.
even if the judge sides with the facility (though I think most would just settle out of court) the bad PR could really hurt their business.

honestly though, this is a scenario best put to the companies legal team, not an internet forum.
we can sit here and speculate and what if's 'till the cows come home, but at the end of the day, it has zero legal meaning.
personally? i wouldn't do it. then again, im not a lawyer. i don't even play one on the internet.

 

[Murray Bloom]

Back when I did this sort of work (Pre-HIPPA), not only did we use paid models, but we were very careful not to have patients or staff visible in the shots. A few staff members wanted to be involved, and we obtained releases from them.

 

[Johnboy2978]

Well, this has been an interesting conversation and I appreciate everyone's input. I agree that using actual patients on any printed material is a risk and liability and there really is no good reason for it to be done. I'm not seeing anything thus far in the HIPAA law that expressly prohibits it as long as consents/releases are signed. It does seem like a potential landmine however and one that clearly should be avoided. Thanks all.