Need help with a Next of Kin issue

Have you asked the patient himself?

Under the law it would be his wife unless he specifically designates someone else. If you pull up the consent laws for your state (you can find them on line at your state government web site, usually under the department of health) it will give you the state law regarding who can consent for a patient who is unable to consent for him/herself.

In their religious practice they may want to do something different but the patient should designate this and put this is writing so there is no conflict about this later on.

If you are seeking a designated 'next of kin' for legal purposes, religious tradition does not have any bearing. Although I believe that there are some minor differences between states, for the most part the legal spouse is #1, followed by legitimate children, then parents, then siblings.

You don't specify what kind of setting you are in, but in most cases it is up to the social worker to clarify, who is the immediate next of kin, or Power of Attorney. Contact the SW. immediatly and ask for a document that specifies who you should contact. It should be witnessed and be a legal part of the patient's chart. There should be no gray areas. You also need to know what funeral home to contact in the event of death. All of this should have been done upon admit. If it wasn't, someone wasn't doing their job. Nurses are frequently left having to call the medical examiner/ coroner for patients that don't have this information on their chart on admission. I hope this helps.