Man dies in snowbank outside Maine ER

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

The last hours of Reid Emery's life were most likely confusing and scary, but above all, they were cold.

The 61-year-old Eastport man's body was discovered Wednesday afternoon partially buried in a pile of snow near Down East Community Hospital in Machias.

http://bangornews.com/news/t/downeast.aspx?articleid=158510&zoneid=177

[oramar]

Unfortunately the laws so strongly favor patient rights that this sort of thing can happen.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

One problem I have with this is that, according to the report, the man was "...delusional when he left the hospital and had been given medication." Now, I don't know what medication he had been given, but if he was known to be delusional, was he competent enough to sign out AMA?

tvccrn

[mianders, RN]

I would like to know where the information that he was delusional and had been given medications came from. Patient information is confidential. I would not make any judgements until all the information comes out.

[rjflyn, ASN, RN]

Competent or not only under rare circumstances does it warrant assaulting a patient to keep them against there will, AMA or not. Based on the limited information provided its hard to say if this would have been one of those cases. Since i was not there I would not know.

rj

[rgroyer1RNBSN, BSN, RN]

Well I hope it wasnt a narc. or sedative, because then wouldnt that make the nurse responsible seeing as how he or she gave the meds, then let him sign out, theres something fishie here that doesnt come out right.:sstrs:

[Weeping Willow]

Well I hope it wasnt a narc. or sedative, because then wouldnt that make the nurse responsible seeing as how he or she gave the meds, then let him sign out, theres something fishie here that doesnt come out right.:sstrs:

What was the nurse supposed to do? She can't tackle him or lock him up. There should have been someone in Legal to immediately advise the staff of what to do in this case but, of course, there either was no access to the hospital attorneys or no one thought to do it or heaven knows what.

What a mess. And, yes, lots of details are missing. We need to watch the development of this case carefully.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

When someone leaves the hospital sedated we call the police if they are driving a car, but not if they are walking. They could easily suffer the same fate as this man.

I've had drunks leave in a huff, definitely not making good decisions, but they have a right to make bad ones. How can we predict which decision will cause injury?

[New2ED]

Just hope that nurse documented, documented and then documented. As I say, when in doubt, CYA!!!!! and make sure other staff is there to watch it all go down!!

[luckylucyrn]

Just hope that nurse documented, documented and then documented. As I say, when in doubt, CYA!!!!! and make sure other staff is there to watch it all go down!!

+1 to that! I was going to say the exact same thing! That's scary.