Ask ECRI: Video Recording in a Birthing Unit

​​​A member recently asked us for guidance on national practices and standards for video recording in a birthing unit.

Picture taking is commonplace in healthcare facilities. Healthcare facilities face challenges in enforcing their policies for patients, families, and visitors who wish to take personal photos or videos, and nowhere is that more prevalent than in labor and delivery units where expectant parents want to commemorate their child's birth. Cameras on personal electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets allow patients, visitors, and healthcare staff to easily snap pictures and record images within the facility.

Pushback by hospitals against video recording of births is not new. In 2011 the New York Times published Cameras, and Rules Against Them, Stir Passions in Delivery Rooms discussing these tensions between patients and hospital policy. The issue remains contentious, as noted in a 2021 article...