Service Dogs Allowed in ISO?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. At this point, the hospital should:

    • 9
      Just wait until MRSA test comes back, then d/c the patient & her dogs
    • 2
      Call animal control even though they are busy with NYE
    • 2
      Discharge both patient and her animals for noncompliance
    • 0
      Have patient sign a refusal of treatment form & give dogs Chucks in bathroom
    • 0
      Get a veterinarian consulted to come test the dogs prior to release to animal control

13 members have participated

Ambulance allowed 2 small service animals to be transported with patient from quick care, to ER for chest pain, hypertension & possible (MRSA) pneumonia.

Now that the patient is admitted into an isolation room for MRSA rule out, the charge RN is saying the service animals are not allowed in isolation rooms, per hospital policy.

So, my question is now that the animals are already admitted under quarantine, should the hospital be allowed to forcefully evict the animals? Can the patient be discharged if refuses to remove the animals (no where for the dogs to go). Aren't they contagious to humans now too? How are service animals regulated to "potty" in hospitals usually? Why would isolation affect their privileges? With it being NYE today, should the hospital wait until after the holiday (1/2/18) to evict the animals? And to where should they go? Animal Control? A veterinarian? By then the MRSA tests should be back then too, so wouldnt it be best to just wait?

What say you AN? :snurse:

Specializes in OB.
I recently had a woman call our unit to ask if she could bring her Chihuahua in when she goes into labor, as it's her emotional support animal and would help her with breathing during labor.

Lol! "Yes, yes you can have your dog present...at your home birth."

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

How is the pt supposed to care for her dogs while hospitalized -- iso room or no? Was the pt accompanied by a support human who assumed 100% responsibility for the dogs' care?

If not, it's animal cruelty to keep them in that room. I love dogs personally, but it is not reasonable to give staff any responsibility for animals. No support human, no veterinary staff, owner hospitalized = animal who has no guarantee of being fed or toileted. Ergo, animal cruelty.

Time to call the social worker. This seems more of a social services issue than a nursing issue.

Specializes in Critical Care.
That's not true. Emotional support animals are different from service dogs, but DO have protections in place.

Emotional Support Dog Requirements | Service Dog Certifications

Both the FHA and ADA require that the person the animal is supporting meets the legal definition of disabled. An Assistance animal does not have to perform a specific task for the disabled person but a Service animal does. Either way the person has to be legally disabled, it can't just be someone who claims that the animal provides them with emotional support and/or companionship.

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

All that's required for an FHA "emotional support" animal is a physician's letter stating that the animal is needed for "emotional support for anxiety" or whatever.

By law, one cannot ask a person what their disability is, not is a person required to provide any kind of proof or documentation of a disability. This is where it becomes slippery and fraught with abuse.

Specializes in psych.

I really want to love dogs! I do, however, as someone who is highly allergic to dogs, I would hope that a friend or some one would come forward to help out with the dogs at home. I totally understand the pt wanting their support system around them, however, if that support system sends me into anaphylaxis then I vote they have to go. Also the PP points about feeding and cleaning up after it are also valid points of why it would be too hard to keep them in the room.

We have had therapy dogs come on my floor before, however we immediately ask someone who knows them to remove the dogs as my psych floor is not safe for them. This is the same rule for infants and small children. Once we explain that it is dangerous for the animal, the pt's are ok with it to a point. No one wants their beloved animal's safety to be in question.

I have no problem with legitimate service animals. There was a great link on a thread here awhile back about the danger that imposter service animals pose to real ones. Animals without proper training can attack the dogs who rightfully belong there. People who buy fake "Sevice Dog" gear for their pet to wear are endangering the lives of other animals as well as the humans they are meant to protect. I love my dog but he doesn't go where he's not supposed to. I also recognize that for all of my feelings that "I love my dog and I want him around me," there are many in public who don't like dogs, are allergic to them or may even fear them. I would never try to pass him off as a fake service animal and assume that my wants trumped theirs.

Specializes in Pedi.

I have a patient who has a service dog that comes with her when she gets admitted to the hospital. She has cystic fibrosis so is always on contact precautions. A service dog goes anywhere its human goes. Her family takes care of walks and bathroom breaks for it.

A story about a service dog that was allowed to accompany its human into the OR:

Service Dog Sniffs Out Girl's Disease, Even in Operating Room - ABC News

I don't really see infection control as an issue in the OP's scenario. If the service dog stays at the patient's bedside and only goes outside for bathroom breaks with a family member or the patient, who is it going to spread MRSA to?

When I worked in humane LE, facilities would call us and we would take the animals, to a private kennel if the owner had one they used, or to the "pound" kennel, in some cases the owner was charged for the board, in some case they weren't, in some cases when the owners didn't claim the animal in a timely fashion, they lost them (adopted out). What do you mean by quarantine? Isolation for the patient? If the animals truly were placed under "quarantine" ie, for biting someone (usually the only quarantine ever done with dogs) that means they can't come into contact with any new people or animals during the typical ten day (current on rabies vaccine) protocol, if they're not current it can extend up to six months. That is usually done in the owners home, private kennel, vets office, or animal shelter. Or to a family member if AC has the address so they can re-inspect at the end of the quarantine period.

If the dogs are just there for the owners isolation. Zoonose's are fairly rare, rabies being rare, although not the only one, soit is unlikely they would have caught something from their owner.

As far as basic needs, food, elimination, etc that is the responsibility of the owner/caretaker. and if the animals are being used as "service" animals the patient actually has to be using them for their needs, not just them keeping them "company", You may find AC is not much help, the dogs are on private property (the hospital) and they can't do much on private property. I would speak to them to see if they help brainstorm a holding place for the dogs. If the dogs have a family member (emergency contact???) I would suggest calling them, or vet they use to see if they can take them while the owner is in hospital. I believe (although it could have changed since I did LE) that the federal laws as they are written currently include only seeing eye dogs, and hearing dogs, again that could have changed.

This is a tough situation for sure, good luck.

Both the FHA and ADA require that the person the animal is supporting meets the legal definition of disabled. An Assistance animal does not have to perform a specific task for the disabled person but a Service animal does. Either way the person has to be legally disabled, it can't just be someone who claims that the animal provides them with emotional support and/or companionship.

Agree, this why I believe there should be a state or licensing requirement for "service" dogs that includes a state issued ID card. I've encountered plenty of people who play the "my dog is a service dog" card to get it places it shouldn't be. Its my pet peeve. I have too much respect for real service dogs.

It seems that people still aren't getting that emotional support animals (ESAs) are NOT the same thing as Service Dogs.

From the ADA web site:

While Emotional Support Animals or Comfort Animals are often used as part of a medical treatment plan as therapy animals, they are not considered service animals under the ADA. These support animals provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Even though some states have laws defining therapy animals, these animals are not limited to working with people with disabilities and therefore are not covered by federal laws protecting the use of service animals. Therapy animals provide people with therapeutic contact, usually in a clinical setting, to improve their physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive functioning.

With respect to actual service animals, note the following:

The ADA does not require covered entities to provide for the care or supervision of a service animal, including cleaning up after the animal.

Service animals which are not housebroken or are disruptive can be evicted from a premises.

For more information:

Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals | ADA National Network

I was referring to both service dogs and "therapy(not the visit sick people type)/assistive dogs in my original reply, and in my second I was referring to actual service dogs, seeing eye, deaf, etc dog in that there should be some type of state mandated license/id for them, way too much abuse that goes on for people to sneak fake service dogs in.

what I can say, from my actual experience enforcing animal control laws is that the average person has no idea who is or who isn't a legit service dog, and the vast majority of places are to afraid of the ADA to make a stand against the ones that obviously aren't legit, I've been there, seen it, enforced it.

I once had someone playing with their dog in a no dogs allowed place, when I responded the owner of the dog, who had a disability told me its a service dog he can be here and argued with me upside and down that the dog had a right to be there, but she was playing fetch with the dog. I wrote the ticket with the blessing of tptb, she had to be using the dog for her intended disability for it to be allowed.

I was called to a local shopping center, security guards told me a service dog had bitten someone in the shopping center, when I questioned the dog owner the dog was going for CGC training, I explained that to the shopping center people that in no way, shape or form was that dog a service animal but mall employees told me that they were too afraid of the ADA to do anything. I made sure the person who was bitten knew my written report was public record.

Again the majority of people are way too afraid of the ADA and a lawsuit happy society and too afraid to even think about getting on the wrong side of that big bad federal law. jmhofme

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