Medical Should medical staff stop when you tell them to?

[FragileGlass]

@ben1982

Absolutely no offense to the OP, I’m sure they felt violated and rightfully so. There is a piece of information not clear. Was it an acute visit to an ER, the OP did state that they were in emotional crisis during the procedure. The rest of the description of the event feels like ER tactics. Again that was not clearly stated in the original post. That was an assumption on my part due to ER experience.

It appears they had a much better more compassionate experience during an elective medical facility where they were in absolute control and far more comforted and seemingly better prepared mentally for what is about to occur. In emergency units, people are highly on edge because they are in crisis, someone with PTSD and has stressors due medical history, would be a terrifying experience. My heart goes out to the OP.

To answer your question about violence, violence is never acceptable and will be dealt with accordingly. In fact violence in the medical profession is one of the most under reported incidents in relation to our job. The number of hospital staff injuries are staggeringly high. Hospitals and medical industry is one of the most violent and dangerous workplaces one can be in. Most patients that commit violence are also never charged or arrested.

 

[gealach]

@ben1982

I think you are blurring the lines between medical malpractice and informed consent. I'm going to hazard a guess that you had medical procedures done to you that you disagree with/that were fearful or painful/where your choice was removed, and that's contributing to the blurred line.

If a patient is mentally competent, not a danger to themselves or others, and informed (of benefits, risks, possible complications, alternatives, risk of refusal), and if they refuse a procedure and it's done anyway, or done in a way that was not agreed to, that's malpractice. On the surface it may seem like a consent issue, because "Hey, I didn't say you could do that", however, it is a malpractice issue. For example, there is a case working it's way through the court system (I can't remember which country) where a surgeon was burning his initials onto the internal organs of his patients during surgery. Had he asked, the patients would likely not have given their consent, however, this is malpractice rather than consent.

The OP was asking about informed consent, and the ability to refuse procedures. If a patient is mentally competent, and not a danger to themselves or others, they absolutely can refuse procedures, and they can stop mid-procedure if/when it's safe to do so. With patients who cannot give informed consent, there is implied consent for life saving measures.

In the OP's original experience, where they wanted the procedure to stop and the u/s tech didn't, that would fall under malpractice. The OP would have been within their right to stop the procedure by verbalizing their intent and then getting up and walking away, but not by physically assaulting the tech, as that would be a use of force grossly out of proportion to what the tech was doing. This is where patient's really need to advocate for themselves, because the med. practitioner is likely to give some automatic response like "I'm almost done", and if you as the patient actually want to be done NOW (versus needing reassurance that the procedure is almost over), you need to verbalize that. It's a learned skill and requires practice, but it is so empowering.

Are you in therapy? It would be worth it to explore your attitude and feelings about consent with a therapist.

 

[EmmaOwl]

@Allie D. I'm afraid you need more education when it comes to male genital muti...

I simply said they were two different things. I have no comment on the male. I was speaking of female only; it seemed to me they were getting lumped together. I'm glad you know they are two different, distinct problems.

"Problems" seems the wrong word to me now. "Issues." Two distinct issues. They are not equivalent, is all I'm saying. The use of the same term for radically different things can be misleading to many people. The End on that one.

I can't combine my posts; I apologize for that. I thought I had nothing else to say... which is why I said "The End" but now my brain is stuck on it and I am still mulling it over - whether I want to quit thinking about it, or not.

 

[ben1982]

I have no problem to verbalize my boundaries. I'm always very clear about that. And it's not even really relevant to me. And as long nobody crosses the line i'm totally ok. It's not that i would harm anyone under normal circumstances. But to me when those boundaries are not respected. It's already a form of violence. Force is violence. It would trigger a fight/flight response. And i never freeze or flee. My natural response when i feel danger is always to act.
(Are you in therapy?) No not anymore. No point. I don't have that many problems in my day to day life. Nothing that therapy would fix. Sure i have my struggles sometimes. But who doesn't? Overall i have a great life now. And even better prospects for the near future. I can't complain.

 

[intothelight]

I've declined treatment, and had my wishes respected. Sure there was a bit of argument, but I stuck to my decision and the procedures were stopped. Non of the procedures were life saving or dealing with an emergency, so the decision to discontinue did not have any immediate dire consequences.

One case was the heparin injection hospitals now give all patients to prevent clots. Not a problem normally, but with a bone marrow cancer and knowing my platelet count was low I refused. Caused the nurse concern until I told her to look at my counts. From then on we made sure I got up and walked every couple of hours so the risk for clots was substantially reduced. Same thing with wanting to fill my water pitcher from the bathroom sink. Not a place for someone who is boarderline neutropenic. Lesson learned that when I have a hospital stay, no general surg floor and I always need to be admitted to oncology even if it is for pneumonia. Fortunately, I have family members that will advocate for me when I cannot advocate for myself.

Know your body, know your rights, and when asking for a change, a delay or refusing procedures be calm and specific. For anyone that has a chronic or acute condition, understand your own disease so you can let medical staff know. A lot of time, the errors are not intentional, but a lack of knowledge and in some cases facilities being grossly understaffed.