Reply #23: If your friend refuses to listen to your reasons, my very strong suggestion...

[IntravenousDemilo]

...is that you get your immediate supervisor or the director to summon your friend to the office and sternly explain directly to him or her (without using the patient's name, of course) that what you did was the only legal and ethical thing to do. If that doesn't work, the big boss will have to assemble the staff and remind them of hospital policy and the legal issues involved.

You know, if they're working in a health facility, your co-workers should have been briefed about patient confidentiality as part of their orientation. I was.