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Old September 10, 2009, 06:00 PM   #48
divemedic
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Join Date: August 12, 2006
Posts: 1,310
Quote:
I would be interested to see exactly what State statutes grant a paramedic (or a physician for that matter) the latitude you perceive you have.
Not a lawyer, but I do know procedure. Let me quote from the paramedic textbook used by a large portion of the country's paramedic programs:

Quote:
A patient must be competent in order to give or withhold consent. A competent adult is one who is lucid and understands your questions and recommendations, and he understands the implications of his decisions made about medical care. Although there is no absolute test for determining competency, keep the following factors in mind when making a determination: the patient's mental status, the patient's ability to respond to questions, statements regarding the patient's competency from family or friends, evidence of impairment from drugs or alcohol, or indications of shock...

Unconscious patients cannot grant consent. When treating them or any patient who requires emergency intervention but is mentally, physically, or emotionally unable to grant consent, treatment depends on IMPLIED CONSENT (sometimes called "emergency doctrine"). That is, it is assumed that the patient would want life-saving treatment if he were able to give informed consent.
I would speak to the issue, but we keep getting dragged into irrelevancies. The legal authority is already there to allow health professionals to treat you against your will. Under the doctrine of involuntary consent, people are routinely forced to be treated for diseases that threaten the community- tuberculosis is a fine example. Sometimes the law specifies that a court order is necessary, sometimes a LEO must order it, and other times, a paramedic does so. The differences there aare small, and change little, unless you are a trial lawyer.
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Last edited by divemedic; September 10, 2009 at 06:06 PM.
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