Patient Out Of Bed Against Medical Advice: Court Finds No Grounds For Lawsuit
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
March 1997
The hospital nursing staff instructed the patient to remain on strict bed rest for twenty-four hours following her surgery, based on the physician's orders. The patient would later acknowledge in court that she was aware of the surgeon’s instructions that she remain in bed, and further admitted that she arose from bed on her own to use the bathroom in direct violation of what she had been told by her physician and by the nursing staff.
The patient sued anyway, claiming that she had sustained injury from getting out of bed prematurely.
The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, dismissed the suit. The hospital’s nursing staff had no obligation for keeping this patient in bed, beyond making sure she understood the physician’s instructions, the court ruled.
Romano vs. Marks, 647 N.Y.S. 2d 272 (N.Y. Sup., 1996).