Nurse Loses License After Discharged Patient Dies
Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 in News Stories
In 2008 on New Year’s Day, Reid Emery, a 61-year-old patient, asked to leave Down East Community Hospital. He had been rushed there five days earlier with stomach pains and was heavily medicated.
Unfortunately, a snow storm prevented his family from going to pick him up. Despite objections from other staff members, the nursing supervisor John Zablotny went ahead and discharged Reid into the freezing cold. Reid only had on light clothing and slippers. He died from hypothermia and opiate toxicity, 18 feet from the hospital walls.
Zablotny lost his nursing license and has to pay a $1,500 in fines plus the costs of the hearing. Needless to say, he also no longer works at the hospital.
Read more at: Bangor Daily News.
neg
Jun 8th, 2010
ao, i feel like im missing part of this story.of course the man should not have been left out in the elements to persish.but, was he intent on leaving?was this a d/c ama situation?i have seen patients leave ama, and we have to let them go.we cannot tackle them at the doors like linebackers.so, i would really like to hear more background on this-ie, was the man leaving no matter what, or, was he confused thinking everything was ok and wandered about until he died?
mjfan
Jun 8th, 2010
hi neg. the story said that the man was disoriented. should a disoriented man be allowed to sign AMA papers?
caring_kari
Jun 12th, 2010
It would be nice to have all the information on this case. There have been cases where doctors sign off of the case when discharging patients and will not write re-admit orders. Usually due to the patient being non-compliant and/or physically or verbally abusive. Was the doctor notified that family couldn’t make it? Were the nurses aware that a patient can be kept in the hospital against their wishes if documention shows they’re confused or overly sedated? Most hospitals have a policy against discharging a patient within 4 hours of receiving narcotics. NEVER, have I heard of releasing a patient to walk away from a facility. Most hospitals have policies on discarging patients and taking a set of vital signs is included. It would be interesting to see the vitals of an opiate toxic patient and conclude they are ready to walk the streets.
The fear of injustice towards a staff member that questions their authority figure must of been a concern. Personally, I would not have had a problem going over the supervisors head and placing the decision in the CEO’s hands. We as nurses have many, many responsibilities. Number one being our patient’s advocate. Each patient has/had a mother and father. Most have spouses, children, brother/sisters. Would we discharge our own loved family member into the cold with light clothing and slippers? Sometimes plain common sense has to come into affect!
What_The_Heck
Jun 15th, 2010
I don’t understand how this patient could have been let go in the supposed condition he was in. I get that if a patient being sound of mind wants to leave there is no legal way to hold him unless there are contagions involved but the story says that the gentleman was “heavily medicated”. I wouldn’t completely blame the nurse here though as I’m sure there were other staff members around that should have spoken up. The real tragedy is that the person died so very close the the hospital. How could nobody have seen him out there?!?
cardio
Jul 6th, 2010
The patient had received enough narcotic pain medicine to sink a ship, was elderly,and was allowed to sign out AMA a leave in blizzard conditions in a robe and slippers. The final decision was that of the nurse who lost his license. The blizzard was so bad you couldn’t see anything and it was at night…