Patient Leaving Against Medical Advice (AMA): Staff Injured Trying to Stop Patient

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Patient Leaving Against Medical Advice (AMA): Staff Injured Trying to Stop Patient

Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession

Quick Summary: Hospital staff acted at their own risk trying to keep a patient from leaving AMA. A fight broke out in which two of them were injured and one was killed.

The patient was admitted for seizures and alcohol withdrawal. He was sedated, given anti-seizure medications and put in leather restraints. The next day he went to the neurological intensive care unit. Then the attending neurologist determined restraints were unnecessary and transferred the patient from intensive care to a private room on a medical/surgical floor. The patient decided to leave against medical advice.

A patient care technician, a food service worker and a medical student took it upon themselves to stop him. A fight broke out in which two of them were injured and one was killed.

The Supreme Court of Texas ruled they had acted at their own risk and could not sue the neurologist for malpractice. The neurologist did not misdiagnose the patient and had no duty to control him. Van Horn v. Chambers, 970 S.W. 2d 542 (Tex., 1998).