Signing Intoxicated students

[spenac]

Sorry, my brains to full to come up with crap like that! :shock: :twisted:

I hear you. lol.

[Odorono]

in every call you have to ask yourself if i had to go to court because this pt died, can i defend my position

This entire thread revolves around doing a thorough assessment, so your point here is really moot. If one spends their career being petrified of litigation, they will end up transporting every pt just to get the "What if?" questions out of their head, and thus contribute to the problem in EMS. The question in one's mind following a competent assessment should not be "Can I defend this in court?" but rather, "Have I made the best decision in the interests of my patient?" If one can answer affirmatively, then the former question shouldn't even be a consideration. This is exactly what we are talking about here, treating a patient as they present to us instead of rote doctrine compliance. Wendy was kind enough to answer all of your questions with an interesting scenario, so you should show her like courtesy.

[crotchitymedic1986]

I am new here, so forgive me if i ask a dumb question; but wasnt the original posters question about getting a refusal on an intoxicated patient ? If a person made out a new will and testament while intoxicated, i am pretty sure it would be thrown out of court (I recall the phrase I ____________ being of sound mind and body). So if the signature of that document was not legal, couldnt the same arguement be made for a medical refusal of care ? I dont know of an EMS system in my area that hasnt at one time or another had their horror call, where the drunk was left behind, and something bad happened. I agree that i hate policies, procedures and protocols that are written for the "one" bad call that occurred 10 years ago, by the rookie or idiot, are a bad thing --- but lets face it, medics are human, and do make mistakes. As one respondent put it, you should ask what is best for this patient ? If you always do that, you will be able to defend yourself in court.

[katbemeEMT-B]

First, let me apologize for what seems like abandoning my thread. I have been so busy between work and medic school. I must say that I was somewhat blown away at the number of responses. I did take the time to read every reply.

Following my initial post, we again responded to one of the local colleges on an intoxicated student. In the process of attempting to load her (they always seem to be in difficult spots to access with the truck), our truck was damaged. I am not sure if my supervisor contacted the college or not, but we have not made very many runs up there since.

I want to thank you all for the insight. I know that we will all have our own opinions on what is right and what is wrong, but I can say that I have learned from this thread and its many responses. As I progress through school, I will come back and ask more of all of you and will hopefully be able to gain even more knowledge.