primary care physician versus POAHC

[steve40]

Here is a question for all you LTC nurses. I recently encountered a situation as to where the spouse and power of attorney for health care of a patient was very adamant that she did not what her husband on the medication Depakote. He was prescribed this for mood/aggressive behaviors sometime ago. She stated that she absolutely didn't want him on it. Although I don't agree with her reasoning, after speaking with her I agreed to discontinue the medication. the "catch" is; the uncall MD didn't want to supersede his primary care provider's decision to have him on the medication. His primary care physician was on vacation. The medical director stepped in and said that he conferred with the pharmacy and it was determined that there was no anticipated adverse effects of stopping the medication. SO..again, though he didn't "officially order me to stop it per-say, after speaking again with the POAHC, she confirmed again that she did not want him on it. So I discontinued the medication. I of course I documented the details as such. I guess my question is; was I "legally" in the right for the actions I took?

Appreciate any feedback.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Legally we can not answer whether you was right or wrong. I would say as long as following policy and maybe send a fax or some form of communication to PCP so on their return they are aware of the situation you can say you have covered all bases

[ktwlpn, LPN]

The medical director and DON need to step in-how is this resident's behavior? Is he aggressive towards staff and peers? I have lost count of the number of times our physicians and the psychiatrist have stressed to the family members that these residents need their meds . Once they are admitted they become our responsibility the safety of the caregivers,residents and staff comes before the POAHC. Several have been told "take them home" and our psychiatrist has also told a few that they could be held liable legally in cases where they refuse meds and the resident hurts a peer. I don't think you did anything wrong but you should chart out the wazoo in this resident.