How Medical Personnel Support the Patient's Right to Refuse Medical Care

With the first steps taken when the patient arrived at the emergency department, the staff did start off in the right direction by making sure the patient was stable and able to answer questions. However, it did not seem like they asked the right questions. They failed to ask about the patient’s health history. The patient was administered 15 milligrams of morphine and then admitted for observation on the medical-surgical unit. From the report given, no information was provided that the emergency room staff obtained any blood work drawn.

However, the information provided stated that the patient required a blood transfusion. This could only be supported with the proper lab work drawn.

The patient did refuse the recommended blood transfusion, therefore, the failure to administer blood should not be applied since medical staff support the patient’s right to refuse medical care. The medical staff could have even had a consent form signed from the patient stating refusal. While overdosing could have been a factor it is difficult to support given that staff administered a high dose of 15 milligrams of morphine.

With this case study, there was a lot of details missing. When the patient came in, he was coming in from an automobile accident. There must had been more serious injuries if the medical staff wanted to do a blood transfusion but, there is not enough information of serious injuries and/or location of injury. The patient did state he was “in a great deal of pain.” Based on his long history of alcohol and drug abuse, the pain factor could have even been from that.

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In regards to a subdural hematoma, I do not believe that could have been a factor in the death. This is supported by medical fact. Symptoms of a subdural hematoma can develop over 24-48 hours and are typically caused by trauma to the head (Hinkle, Brunner, Cheever, & Suddarth, 2014). For this to be true in the case study, the patient should have had a very serious head injury from the accident. These types of injuries are more common in the elderly as their brain is more atrophied allowing for more space for blood to fill the subdural space, resulting in several hours or weeks to pass before symptoms appear and requiring the individual to seek medical treatment. If anything, the patient’s estate could sue for the overdose over anything but I believe since the patient was not able to provide the right information like health history and the previous day’s intake of alcohol and heroin.

There wasn’t a whole lot of information given, but the physician could actually be sued since the staff and physician failed to ask the appropriate questions and perform a toxicology screen. Finally, the patient’s estate decides to sue the physician claiming medical malpractice several years later. Depending on what state they could have been in, there is a statute of limitations that differs within each state. Each state has different rules while some might not have anything for murder. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, between 2-5 years are the average for the statute of limitations for those lawsuits. Again, not a lot of information within this case study. When I hear several years, I think more than 5 years but that’s just me.