EDtom

10/10 cotton mouth 30min after smoking marijuana

This is one of those gray areas, You signed responsibility for these patients from ems, now it really comes down to documentation. In your triage did you identify these people as intoxicated? If they left and got hit by a car could you explain in court why someone that you felt was under the influence was able to make a decision to leave on their own? Think about it as someone you just gave IV morphine to now decides they want to leave, do they have the ability to make the best choices or do you say you need to a have sober responsible adult here to leave or you need to wait till you sober up. Its about a safe discharge and/or AMA, we have a duty to keep everyone safe, so if intoxicated they need a sober person to take responsibility for them or metabolize to freedom. They have the right to refuse treatment.