Discharge due to non-compliance?

[nurselove757]

An issue that I’m facing is with the providers I’m working with and non-compliant patients. A few of the providers that I am working with have told me that if a patient is non-compliant and if there will be a projected complication such as a stroke or the ESRD, I should go ahead and discharge the patient from my care. The reason they say is because they are afraid that if a patient does end up having a stroke, heart attack, or death, that the provider will be liable. I’m trying to understand the situation because if I have explained everything to the patient and documented all these things, then I don’t think I should be liable for any damages that occur to the patient due to noncompliance of recommendations. Should I continue to see these patients or should I discharge them due to a fear of lawsuit in case something bad happens to them? The thing is, even if they are listening to all the recommendations, and they are doing the right things, they may still end up having a complication or death. In these situations I have not been sued. Most of my patients are geriatric patients. Many of them end up having critical conditions and also refuse to be in compliance for their care. Please shine a light on this issue

[djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP]

41 minutes ago, nurselove757 said:

An issue that I’m facing is with the providers I’m working with and non-compliant patients. A few of the providers that I am working with have told me that if a patient is non-compliant and if there will be a projected complication such as a stroke or the ESRD, I should go ahead and discharge the patient from my care. The reason they say is because they are afraid that if a patient does end up having a stroke, heart attack, or death, that the provider will be liable. I’m trying to understand the situation because if I have explained everything to the patient and documented all these things, then I don’t think I should be liable for any damages that occur to the patient due to noncompliance of recommendations. Should I continue to see these patients or should I discharge them due to a fear of lawsuit in case something bad happens to them? The thing is, even if they are listening to all the recommendations, and they are doing the right things, they may still end up having a complication or death. In these situations I have not been sued. Most of my patients are geriatric patients. Many of them end up having critical conditions and also refuse to be in compliance for their care. Please shine a light on this issue

Comes down to company policy. If the company determines they don't want to keep patients for whatever bar of compliance they want, that's their call. If you are operating more independently and see your own patients, then there's more flexibility. If other providers see patients you see regularly though you could find regular patients are all of a sudden gone. That same provider who discharges a patient for non-compliance could face negligence questions along the same ground they're in fear of. If you adequately document, you're covered.