Up until very recently I worked in a hospital checking patients in. I was quite good at it, meaning I was learning quickly and already receiving praise from my coworkers and patients. I had been there for about two weeks when I made the mistake that cost me my job. I took a picture of a page out of a book I was reading while taking a break at my desk and uploaded it to social media. About an hour later I noticed that a friend messaged me telling me to take the picture down because you could see my work monitor in the corner of the image and it had sensitive patient information. I took it down as soon as I saw it, but by then PHI (Patient Health Information ) had been on social media for a whole hour. Fortunately my posts are locked to only my friends, but someone else on my friends list saw it and decided to report me to hospital administration.
I apologized, complied with their investigation and explained that it was an honest mistake but after a week on paid administrative leave I was informed that my employment had been terminated. I know it’s my own fault and I should have been more careful, but firing me doesn’t un-breach data and now I won’t have an opportunity to learn from my mistake and do better.