Disclosing Sensitive Issues in Personal Statements Forum

[mst]

If I'm discussing a patient or client that I have worked with in a personal statement, do I just replace the name with "BOB" as if that is their name, or do I explicitly state that "BOB" is actually not their name? Also, how appropriate is it to discuss the case of a medical patient or legal client if no revealing information is given away? I'm pretty sure it's not illegal but will any ad-com's feel that it's distasteful?

[SFnative]

As long as you tie it in well, and explain the relation of it to your PS, I don't see why they would care. After all this is supposed to be about you and who you are, they are not really concerned with a third party...

[Marionberry]

If I'm discussing a patient or client that I have worked with in a personal statement, do I just replace the name with "BOB" as if that is their name, or do I explicitly state that "BOB" is actually not their name? Also, how appropriate is it to discuss the case of a medical patient or legal client if no revealing information is given away? I'm pretty sure it's not illegal but will any ad-com's feel that it's distasteful?

My PS is in part about an experience I had working with a patient in a clinical setting, in which confidentiality is a big deal. I just replaced the patient's name with a generic first name, though I didn't expressly state that it wasn't their real name. I think it was clear enough that I wasn't blatantly violating HIPAA rules in my personal statement, and I needed to conserve space as much as a possible. Either way, I don't think it's that big of a deal.