Vancouver nurse who posted patients' photos and private information online faces 6-month suspension

A stock photo shows a person typing on a laptop.

A Vancouver woman has had her nursing registration suspended for six months over inappropriate online behaviour over the span of 20 months.

Mei-Lin Li, who also goes by the name Jennifer, is facing consequences as a result of five practice issues that took place from March 2020 to November 2021, according to the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives.

Those issues are outlined in an online notice of the consent agreement Li reached with BCCNM earlier this week, and include “taking photographs of patients and clinical areas of medical facilities and posting those photographs online.”

The regulatory body says Li also breached patient privacy by posting stories, including their private information, online.

In addition, Li offered medical advice to “specific individuals online and outside of the scope of her practice,” and improperly used her title as a registered nurse, according to BCCNM.

She also posted online messages that affiliated her private business with the hospital that employed her, the agreement explains.

As a result, Li has voluntarily agreed to a six-month suspension of her nursing registration and a public reprimand.

Part of the agreement requires her to undergo remedial education in “privacy, ethics, misuse of title, social media use and professional responsibility and accountability.”

She also must engage in “a regulatory practice consulting program to address the foundational issues underpinning this agreement.”

Finally, the college notes that Li has agreed to an undertaking not to repeat the conduct.