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Two of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)'s policies address the issue of who is responsible for inpatients being held in EDs. The October 2007 policy, "Responsibility for Admitted Patients" recognizes that the patient benefits when there is a clear delineation of who is responsible for the patient's care.
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After a lawsuit is filed alleging poor care of a boarded patient is not the time to figure out who was legally responsible.
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Administering medication in the emergency department (ED) or prescribing medication upon discharge exposes the ED physician to liability. When there are resultant complications, side effects, or injury as a result of a medication, lawsuits often are filed. This article will discuss the ED physician's duty to warn and will provide general guidelines on whether a pharmacist or a physician will assume liability in a given situation.
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When an admitted patient is boarded in the ED for extended periods, there may be confusion over who is responsible for the patientis it the ED physician, the hospitalist, the surgical specialist, or the medical specialist?
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One legal question is what standard of care the ED would be held to in the event of a lawsuit involving an admitted boarded patient's bad outcome.
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Did a surgeon examine your abdominal pain patient, or did a gastroenterologist give a second opinion on a complex issue? Unless this is documented appropriately, the ED physician may be the only one left "on the hook" if a bad outcome occurs.
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Debate exists over the use of certain medications in rapid sequence induction (RSI) for critically ill patients requiring intubation.
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Prehospital rapid sequence intubation (abbreviated here as p-RSI) has been described in the emergency medicine and trauma literature for the past two decades.
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