Kirsten Mortensen's blog » NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital http://kirstenmortensen.com/index.php Wed, 05 May 2010 13:19:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Do you have the right to refuse medical treatment? http://kirstenmortensen.com/index.php/do-you-have-the-right-to-refuse-medical-treatment.htm http://kirstenmortensen.com/index.php/do-you-have-the-right-to-refuse-medical-treatment.htm#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 16:48:48 +0000 Kirsten http://kirstenmortensen.com/index.php/?p=925 Don’t count on it.

The story, if you’ve missed it, began in 2003 when a construction worker was admitted to the ER at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital with a gash on his head.

He got stitches.

Then he was told he needed a rectal exam to determine if he had a spinal injury.

He didn’t want a rectal exam. A scuffle ensued. The “patient” ended up sedated & restrained.

Leave aside who’s lying and who isn’t (the hospital claimed he never got the exam; Brian Persaud says he did; the hospital says Persaud got violent, he says he slapped a doc by accident).

It seems to me it never should have gotten that far.

It seems to me that even if I, the patient, will die if I refuse a particular procedure, I should still be allowed to refuse it.

It’s my body.

Isn’t it?

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