Man it sure has been awhile since we fired up the ol' You Make the Call Machine here at HMHQ, but I thought it's finally time to get back on the posting circuit.
For you new people, I post a situation, you answer it based on your local policies.
Dispatched in the first response vehicle of choice for your agency, the local PD has detained a man who assaulted another person. The other person is receiving care from your partner and is stable, bleeding controlled and has agreed to transport. PD presents you to the window of the patrol car where you can see a superficial laceration to the forearm just distal to the left elbow. There was a small drip of blood that appears to be dry, no other injuries are obvious through the window.
After repeated pleas the officer agrees to open the door and remove the patient but warns that he became violent when they took him into custody. He stands and allows a brief primary and secondary exam and you note no other deformity or injury. He is refusing vital signs, treatment and transport in colorful language, but denies alcohol or drug use. When asked if he understands the risks of refusing assessment and treatment he replies in the affirmative and states his reason for assaulting the man and the police is his business, not yours.
Is he able to refuse service? If so, who signs the form when PD tells you there's no chance of him removing the cuffs to allow for a signature?
You Make the Call.
For you new people, I post a situation, you answer it based on your local policies.
Dispatched in the first response vehicle of choice for your agency, the local PD has detained a man who assaulted another person. The other person is receiving care from your partner and is stable, bleeding controlled and has agreed to transport. PD presents you to the window of the patrol car where you can see a superficial laceration to the forearm just distal to the left elbow. There was a small drip of blood that appears to be dry, no other injuries are obvious through the window.After repeated pleas the officer agrees to open the door and remove the patient but warns that he became violent when they took him into custody. He stands and allows a brief primary and secondary exam and you note no other deformity or injury. He is refusing vital signs, treatment and transport in colorful language, but denies alcohol or drug use. When asked if he understands the risks of refusing assessment and treatment he replies in the affirmative and states his reason for assaulting the man and the police is his business, not yours.
Is he able to refuse service? If so, who signs the form when PD tells you there's no chance of him removing the cuffs to allow for a signature?
You Make the Call.
Comments
Suspect/patient wants to go, but cop says no? Cop signs.
Cop won't allow more assessment? Cop signs.
It is a custody thing where I am.
That said our org are volunteers.
That worked out about as well as you'd think, so now it's 180 degrees opposite. They generally can't wait to get anyone with claimed illness or injury out of a jail cell and into a hospital bed.
And to answer the inevitable question, I'm far more concerned about getting sued (as much as I concerned about getting sued) for not taking someone to the hospital than I am for taking them to the hospital. Rogue Medic notwithstanding.