NT Health Bans Smart Glasses at Hospitals to Protect Patient Privacy

NT Health, the government health department in Australia's Northern Territory, has banned smart glasses from all of its hospitals and clinics. The ban came after a visiting doctor shared private videos of patients on Instagram without their permission. Officials said smart glasses are an "elevated risk to patient privacy and confidentiality." The ban is part of a wider review of privacy rules inside the department.

The trouble started when a medical observer named Dr. Neda Mogharehabed visited Royal Darwin Hospital earlier this month. She posted images and videos that included the private medical information of 12 pregnant patients to her 28,000 Instagram followers. No one has said she used smart glasses to do this, but the incident made officials look more closely at recording devices. The hospital review group identified smart glasses as a serious concern.

NT Health chief executive Susan Bowden sent an email to all staff after the review. She said that smart glasses and other recording-capable devices must not be used in clinical settings without special approval. Any approved use would have to follow strict rules about patient consent, privacy, and data security. She made clear that patient permission must always come first.

NT Health Minister Steve Edgington had already announced the week before that the medical observership program would be paused. This program lets visiting doctors watch and learn at hospitals. He also referred the incident to the NT Information Commissioner and NT Police for investigation. A review group is now studying how new technology affects patient privacy across the whole government.

The Australian Medical Association's Northern Territory branch said it supports the ban. Vice-president Dr. Dayna Duncan explained that patients need to feel safe sharing personal health information with their doctors. She said that without that trust, doctors cannot diagnose or treat illness properly. The ban, she said, helps protect that important relationship.

Dr. Duncan also said that new technologies should be reviewed one by one, rather than banned all at once. She noted that some tools, once better developed, could help deliver more care to patients. This matters a lot in the Northern Territory, where the health system serves a large, spread-out population with serious medical needs. She said harnessing technology safely is key for the future.