Failure to reinsert the Foley catheter, or at least consult with the treating physician about what to do, started the patient on a downward spiral that culminated in his death.  COURT OF APPEAL OF LOUISIANA September 30, 2015

  The eighty year-old patient was admitted to a rehab facility after a stroke.

  Among other medical issues he had only one remaining kidney, the other having been removed due to cancer.

  The patient had an indwelling Foley catheter, per his physician’s orders.

  His Foley came out, possibly removed by the patient himself.  However, following the nursing home’s policy, the Foley catheter was not reinserted.

  His daughter found him unresponsive when she visited him four days later.  He was sent to the hospital in an ambulance.

  When a urinary catheter was inserted in the emergency department 800 ml of thick brownish urine was released, more than three times the volume that normally would be expected.

  The patient had developed a urinary tract infection which had progressed to severe sepsis and septic shock.

  He was sent to another hospital and admitted to the ICU for treatment of septic shock and acute renal failure for which he was aggressively hydrated.

  After suffering with a host of medical problems the patient died.

  The Court of Appeal of Louisiana upheld a jury verdict in the family’s favor.

  The medical experts disagreed at trial whether the patient did, in fact, recover from his urinary tract infection and then succumb to one of his other medical issues, but the jury nevertheless faulted the rehab facility.  Johnson v. Rehab, __ So. 3d __, 2015 WL 5715131 (La. App., September 30, 2015).

More references from nursinglaw.com

http://www.nursinglaw.com/catheter3.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/catheter.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/catheter2.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/forced-catheterization.htm