Ever had to get a court order for treatment?

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I love hearing all the nursing stories out there.....

A while back I had a patient come in 33 weeks c/o vag bleeding. reactive strip...abruption pattern....bedside sono....40%abruption. The pt spent the next hour refusing a C/S. MD at bedside expaining every thing....risks/benefits/why we could not induce her to have a lady partsl delivery....it was awful....(all this time we have a good strip thank god)long story short after an hour of nice polite urging the doctor finally said. If you don't consent to a c/s the next step is for me to call the hospital atty and start the process for a court ordered C/S. thank god she consented....although she stated she consented under duress. I think the MD did everything he could. And I NEVER want to be in that kind of a situation....has anyone out there ever had get a court order for treatment...

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm curious why an informed alert and oriented adult that understands the consequences of refusing a c-section and it mentally stable would be forced into having one. I understand all of the moral implications for those involved, but legally I'm a bit hazy on it.

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Specializes in Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery.

Wow, 40% abruption and a good strip. How lucky. It is a wonder whe wasn't already in labor with the contractions she was probably putting out. I hope everything worked out ok in the end.

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casi... A year or so ago some mom in another state...not sure what state was told she needed a c/s. She refused, left ama, came back a few days later with 1 dead baby. (it was twins, 1 dead 1 not) She was charged with criminally negligent homicide. If the doctor is 99% sure that this baby will not survive labor and die....and does not try and get a court ordered C/S....is he guilty of negligent homicide.....

I don't know the answer.....it's a bad situation all around....

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Specializes in L&D,- Mother/Baby.

We also had a patient that refused and emergency CS with not only her first pregnancy, but also her second. The charting of the Drs. and nurses was excellent. The chain of command was followed. Her husband and her sisters also refused. Hours later, her husband finally agreed. She ended up with a mentally damaged baby. Guess what: she has brought a law suit- go figure.

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casi said:
I'm curious why an informed alert and oriented adult that understands the consequences of refusing a c-section and it mentally stable would be forced into having one. I understand all of the moral implications for those involved, but legally I'm a bit hazy on it.

As I understand it, even ACOG has said that a court-ordered c-section is not appropriate. It does seem that it is happening more. A year or so ago a mom in Pennsylvania left a hospital AMA after being told that her baby was more than 10 pounds and she must have a c-section. The hospital obtained a court order requiring her to have a c-section in case she returned. In the meantime she gave birth lady partslly to a 13 pound baby at another hospital with no complications.

In the instance where the woman lost one twin, she was mentally ill in my understanding so that may have warranted legal intervention. Of course that didn't happen in that case.

I am wondering how the husband could consent for the surgery in MemphisRN's story. Uness the mother was unconscious it doesn't seem proper to me... she COULD sue for that.

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I can not imagine any court ordered c-section being ok. Sounds like an intimidation tactic from the doctor to me and I'm sure the mother would have grounds for a very nice lawsuit if she had been forced into it.

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