Medical Decisions Made by Neighbor?
How would you like it if you were admitted to a hospital, unable to express your wishes and ask questions, and a neighbor strolled in and started making medical decisions for you?
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General was asked to investigate after this happened to a veteran who was hospitalized for three weeks.
The OIG determined that the neighbor had no legal authority to make medical decisions for that patient. Medical staff didn’t try to even check the identity of the neighbor, much less his legal standing. They went through the veteran’s stuff, but didn’t look into his VA benefits records.
A mental health staffer decided the veteran could not make decisions and had delirium caused by medical origins, yet a social worker helped him sign forms.
Emergency room staff said the veteran had indicated he had family, but no one followed up … except to contact the neighbor to come get the service dog.
Based on his agitation (my opinion: caused by pain from a urinary tract infection), they put the veteran on antipsychotic drugs and flung around a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia. The American Geriatric Society has said that the elderly shouldn’t be given antipsychotics because they cause agitation and delusions.
Even worse, the OIG discovered, the medical records “did not contain sufficient documentation of physicians’ clinical assessments to support diagnoses and treatment decisions.”
After three weeks, the neighbor “authorized withholding life-sustaining treatments” and the veteran was shipped off to hospice to die. The OIG concluded doctors did that “without fully pursuing other diagnoses and treatment options.” The veteran died five days later — then they finally located the family.
To read the whole file about this nightmare, go to www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG19-08666-212.pdf
Right now, while you’re thinking about it, put a piece of paper in your wallet marked Emergency Information. Write down the names and phone numbers of people who are to be contacted: family, attorney, minister. Don’t leave this to chance.