Aude:
As a nurse, I am appalled at the way your information was leaked to the elders after you made your wishes known to them. This is an inexcusable violation of patient confidentiality. Any hospital employee or contractor or volunteer who is responsible for this kind of disclosure is subject to heavy penalties - including job termination, fines and jail time - where I live.
My pushy, medical employee, JW sister forced them to give her my HIIPA # for access to me and my records by relaying my profile. I was pleased the hospital was protecting my privacy but then realized that the same person violated the privacy because the person on the phone (my sister) knew me so intimately.
I suspect your sister and/or your mother may have been the source of the disclosure, but I would certainly insist on a full investigation by the hospital and require that those persons responsible for the leak be subjected to disciplinary action. Even the elder who visited you, as an authorized hospital volunteer, can be barred from performing "pastoral visits" if it becomes known that he (1) visited you contrary to your expressed wishes to be left alone; (2) used leaked information to find you.
I have harped on this topic in the past: REMOVE any AMD, Power of Attorney for Health Care, or indication that you were a JW from your medical records. Do it NOW before a "situation" develops.
Just as an aside, when you are admitted to hospital, ask for a NO VISITORS and NO PHONE CALLS and NO INFORMATION option on your admission report. That way, if people inquire about you, hospital staff is obliged to say that there is "no patient by that name" registered in the hospital. Ask the nurses to put a NO VISITORS - PLEASE GO TO THE NURSING STATION sign on your door. If anyone here has an unwelcomed visitor show up in their hospital room, you have THE RIGHT to push the EMERGENCY button on your call bell. Every nurse and orderly on the ward will run to your room and you should declare in a LOUD and DISTRESSED voice "HOW DID THIS PERSON GET IN HERE!?? MY PRIVACY IS BEING VIOLATED!!! GET THEM OUT NOW!!" The person will be directed to leave and not come back. If they do not leave, then Security will escort them out of the building. Then, insist on speaking to the Charge Nurse, the Nurse Manager, the Nursing Supervisor, and the Director of Nursing to file an Incident Report. A letter of complaint to the CEO of the hospital is also in order.
The elder who visited you, Aude, needs to be reminded that he was in possession of information that was obtained by illegal means, and that if anything you said or did in his presence is relayed to the body of elders you will SUE HIM PERSONALLY and ANYONE TO WHOM HE DISCLOSED THE INFORMATION. He would be in breach of his signed oath of patient confidentiality with the hospital.
Sincere wishes for a speedy recovery.