Did this nurse behave unethically?

[toomuchbaloney]

subee said:

What do nurses think about this nurse reporting on this patient who was indicted  for manslaughter? She was eventually exonerated on charges.   I think she should be reported to the Ohio BON for a violation of patient privacy.

I think that is a nurse who is not advocating for her patient. Shame on her.  

[offlabel]

I guess I'm looking more at the physicians that sent this lady home before she even delivered. PROM? Heavy bleeding? So much for health care. They just sent her home? 3 times? If this woman was robbed of her personhood, it all began with her physicians, not the nurse in the end. 

 

Where is the columnist's outrage over that?

[chare]

Quote

When Brittany Watts woke up at her Warren, Ohio, home on Sept. 22, 2023, she knew she was miscarrying. 

Her 22-week-old fetus had been declared nonviable by doctors several days prior. Bleeding and in pain, she spent a total of 19 hours in the hospital over a span of two days, begging to be induced.

But an ethics group at Mercy Health - St. Joseph Warren Hospital had concerns about Ohio's abortion laws and how they applied to Watts' case, ultimately resulting in hours of delayed care. 

Watts, frustrated with the lengthy wait times, said she left the hospital both days against medical advice. She said she miscarried alone in her own bathroom.

When Watts returned to Mercy Health for medical care following the miscarriage she says a nurse rubbed her back and told her everything would be okay before calling the police at the direction of the hospital's risk management team and asking them to go to her home to find the fetus.

[...]

Brittany Watts, Ohio woman charged with felony after miscarriage at home, describes shock of her arrest

She was charged, not indicted of felony abuse of a corpse, not manslaughter.

And something other than a photo of the first paragraph of an article would be helpful.

[chare]

I do think that risk management should have made the report, rather than having the nurse do so.

[HarleyvQuinn, MSN, RN, NP]

If that's the same Mercy Medical Center I remember doing some clinicals at, it's a Catholic Hospital around the Akron-Canton area. ---- Re-read the article and yep, that's the same Catholic facility I remember. Not surprised it was reported. 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

HarleyvQuinn said:

If that's the same Mercy Medical Center I remember doing some clinicals at, it's a Catholic Hospital around the Akron-Canton area. ---- Re-read the article and yep, that's the same Catholic facility I remember. Not surprised it was reported. 

This NURSE should be reported.  The patient had a miscarriage, not an abortion to say nothing of invasion of the patient's privacy.  I hope the patient got a lawyer.

 

[HarleyvQuinn, MSN, RN, NP]

Not disagreeing with you. Just not surprised given the type of facility it is. Also not surprised they didn't help move the miscarriage along. I also was witness to a similar situation where a woman with a very unviable pregnancy was suffering a slow miscarriage, there was no way the fetus would be able to be saved, but because it still had a heartbeat, the hospital would not allow the physician staff to do anything to speed up the expulsion of the fetus. This was a military facility that caused those rules to be followed at that time. Now so many states have passed such strict anti-abortion laws that physicians are afraid to act in any similar situations so women are suffering similar predicaments. It's a very dangerous time to become pregnant. 

[toomuchbaloney]

HarleyvQuinn said:

Not disagreeing with you. Just not surprised given the type of facility it is. Also not surprised they didn't help move the miscarriage along. I also was witness to a similar situation where a woman with a very unviable pregnancy was suffering a slow miscarriage, there was no way the fetus would be able to be saved, but because it still had a heartbeat, the hospital would not allow the physician staff to do anything to speed up the expulsion of the fetus. This was a military facility that caused those rules to be followed at that time. Now so many states have passed such strict anti-abortion laws that physicians are afraid to act in any similar situations so women are suffering similar predicaments. It's a very dangerous time to become pregnant. 

Yes.  The "exceptions" are doing exactly as intended, creating chaos, confusion and dangerous inconvenience for women in need of care with language to give thepoliticians political coverage.  It's authoritarian nonsense.  

[HarleyvQuinn, MSN, RN, NP]

toomuchbaloney said:

Yes.  The "exceptions" are doing exactly as intended, creating chaos, confusion and dangerous inconvenience for women in need of care with language to give thepoliticians political coverage.  It's authoritarian nonsense.  

Indeed. Meanwhile, we found out today that Medicaid has decided they'll no longer cover more than one test (such as rapid strep, COVID, or Flu) per visit to urgent care. So, just take best guess at which potential illness is causing the symptoms and if it's negative, that's all folks. I'm pretty over the political and insurance shenanigans running healthcare at this point.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

It's disgusting. The fact that they sent her home three times, then she gets arrested? She wasn't grieving appropriately? This country has real issues. 

[toomuchbaloney]

lifelearningrn said:

It's disgusting. The fact that they sent her home three times, then she gets arrested? She wasn't grieving appropriately? This country has real issues. 

Culture wars are a favorite pastime of one of our political parties.