Accused of hitting a patient

Nurses General Nursing

Published

What happens if the patient accuses you of u hitting them and it's not true?

but the patient is alert and oriented, will that be enough to prove your guilty or must there be evidence of abuse as in bruises/witness?

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

It will largely depend on your place of work how this will be addressed. If the patient has made a formal complaint, there will be an investigation that will hopefully result in the best outcome. Good luck.

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It will largely depend on your place of work how this will be addressed. If the patient has made a formal complaint, there will be an investigation that will hopefully result in the best outcome. Good luck.

Lets say state gets involved, do u have a idea how things could play out?.. just by the patient claiming they were hit, is that enough to lose there license?

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Well, if it wasn't documented, it didn't happen.

Yet another nursing myth blown.

Your question is way too general to answer.

A- An alert, oriented PT who presents as being reliable and credible with no apparent secondary gain files a complaint against a nurse with a history of similar complaints.

VS

B- A PT with a HX of unfounded complaints who clearly thrives on drama, and talks often of various lawsuits files a complaint against a veteran nurse with a spotless record.

Probably going to be handled differently.

BTW- are you the nurse or the patient in this scenario? I notice you created an account to ask this question.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

That would depend on the results of the investigation that the facility will most likely initiate upon receipt of such a complaint. As you gave us few details to go on (and this is good as I'll explain), we can't speculate any further.

If you are the nurse in this scenario, you'll likely be pulled from this patient's care while you are being investigated. If you have to continue caring for this patient, I would not be alone with them--always have at least one witness present that ISN'T patient family/friends/visitors. And even if you are innocent, you will also want to refrain from discussing this in too much detail with other people or posting it online. You may want to consider having legal counsel ready just in case. At the least, get a free consult.

If you are the patient in this scenario, then it's out of your hands: you've made the complaint and it's up to the facility to investigate. Keep in mind that the facility may or may not advise you of the outcome of their investigation. Nor may the investigation have the outcome you desire. In that case, you could always contact a lawyer to review your own legal options...though keep in mind that falsely claiming that a nurse committed battery against you doesn't do your reputation any favors.

Best of luck.

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