#PatientSafety #HospitalIncident #LegalAdvice
🏥 When a loved one is in the hospital, all we want is for them to receive the best care possible. However, sometimes things can go wrong, as in the case of one man whose father was jumped on by a nurse after surgery. This shocking incident has left the family wondering what steps to take next.
**What Happened?**
After undergoing surgery for a foot infection, the man’s father was waiting for his medication when a nurse brought only one pill instead of the requested two. Concerned that one pill wouldn’t be enough, the father asked for the second pill, but the nurse refused. In an attempt to protect himself from being denied pain medication later on, the father tried to take a picture of the pill left on the table.
**The Confrontation**
As soon as the nurse noticed the father taking a picture, he demanded that he stop and quickly approached his bed. The situation escalated as the nurse jumped on the father, trying to get the phone out of his hand. While the nurse claims he was only trying to block the camera, the father felt threatened and called the police for help.
**Hospital’s Response**
Despite the father’s calls to the police, the hospital security officer was the one to arrive on the scene. Shockingly, he dismissed the father’s claims and insisted that the nurse wouldn’t behave in such a manner. Feeling unsafe, the father requested to be moved to a different area of the hospital with different staff.
**Legal Options**
Now faced with the decision to settle or seek legal action, the family is unsure of the best course of action. While the father did not sustain any serious injuries from the incident, the emotional toll of feeling helpless and unsafe in the care of hospital staff is significant.
**What Should You Do?**
1. **Consult with an Attorney**: It’s essential to seek the advice of a legal professional who specializes in medical malpractice and patient rights. They can review the details of the incident and provide guidance on the next steps to take.
2. **Document Everything**: Keep a detailed record of the events leading up to and following the incident. This includes any conversations with hospital staff, law enforcement, and any documentation provided by the hospital.
3. **Consider Emotional Impact**: While physical injuries can be quantified, the emotional distress caused by such an incident cannot be overlooked. Speak with a counselor or therapist to address any trauma resulting from the altercation.
4. **Understand Your Rights**: Patients have the right to receive safe and respectful care while in the hospital. If those rights are violated, it’s important to take action to ensure accountability and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
In conclusion, the situation involving the nurse’s aggressive behavior towards the patient is a concerning one. It’s crucial for the family to seek legal guidance, document all details of the incident, address any emotional impact, and understand their rights as patients. By taking these steps, they can advocate for justice and ensure that their loved one receives the care they deserve.
You need patient advocate and lawyer.
Why did your dad not take the pill?
Not legal advice. Commenting from an MD side of things for clarity.
1: if you refuse meds, we take them back. You don’t get to keep medication and take it at your leisure. We need to know not only what you take but also when you take it. That is likely why the RN went to take the medicine back.
2: no idea what happened with the RN but they shouldn’t have physically interacted with your father the way you describe. If the RN was concerned about a photo being taken of them (which, granted, your dad shouldn’t be doing) they can alert security to that fact.
3: I’m not a lawyer, but I dont know how this interaction leads to a lawsuit.
NAL but I am a nurse. You are right that they won’t just leave narcotics out. Your dad can’t just wait for a second pill and take them together. If a doctor prescribes that dosage we can only give that dose; if he refuses to take that dose we take it away. If he took it and didn’t get enough relief the nurse can contact the provider to increase the dose or add something for breakthrough pain but he can’t hold onto it and double up his dose.
We also have a right to not be photographed and most hospitals will have you sign something to that effect when you’re admitted. While jumping on your dad is definitely not okay, I don’t think it’s really something the police can do much about if no one was injured. It sounds like he was trying to grab the phone to delete a photo of himself and fell on your dad rather than him jumping on top of him in some sort of attack.
Ask for a patient advocate and get the nurses name and license number and make a report against their license.
Edit to add: it’s not that we’re not viewing it from the patient’s perspective and being heartless. There are 3 sides to every story and it’s very likely that the way pain medication works was explained to him and he just didn’t want to follow the rules. The number of times I’ve explained a policy to a patient, they said they understood it and then they turned around 10 minutes later and acted like that conversation never happened is astoundingly high. If he said “I’d like proof that you didn’t mark it off that this medication was taken by me” most nurses would gladly show him their computer screen and show that it was refused in the MAR. A photo of a pill in a cup isn’t evidence that it wasn’t taken anyway.
No one’s saying what the nurse did was appropriate if the story being told is 100% true. Both parties did something wrong but the nurse isn’t going to get fired or lose their license for trying to grab a phone and falling.
And there is a lot of private information floating around a hospital which is a big reason why you can’t just take pictures all willy nilly. Take pictures of yourselves, family, or whoever else gives you permission but you can’t take pictures of staff or other patients. I work for a state hospital in a single party consent state and even we have that rule.