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In general, a hospital cannot require that a patient take only medications administered by the hospital staff. A hospital may deny admission if a patient refuses to give up self-medication. If a patient is not mentally or physically competent or the hospital has reason to believe that the patient will cause himself harm, the right to self-medication may be taken away. Many hospitals have set up "rules" which are not legally enforceable. If challenged -particularly at a level above the floor nurse- the hospitals become more flexible in the area of patients' rights. Will Johnnston A.P.D.A. DelMarVA Chapter Pres. 4049 Oakland School Road Salisbury MD 21804 USA 410-543-0110 ---------- From: Dick Swindler <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: PWP and Meds in the Hospital Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 3:23 PM My husband, Dick, is in the hospital again for a non-PD problem. He was in for two days, out two days, and is now back in. During his first admission, his GP or the surgeon (not sure which) had already written an order allowing him to self-administer his PD meds, which we brought from home. That has been our standard request, and it has worked very well. At the time of his readmission, neither doctor remembered to write orders allowing self-administering the meds, so of course it wasn't allowed until one of the doctors came back in to change the orders. Here's the result: His evening Sinemet never arrived, nor did his sleeping pill. His sleeping pill was brought to him around 7 a.m., with his breakfast. This morning his 1.0 mg Mirapex was brought to him in the form of five .2 mg tablets. As of 11 a.m. today, he still hadn't received his morning Sinemet or his other meds. Fortunately, Dick wasn't in awful shape, because we'd brought in his meds, expecting him to be able to self-administer them again. He simply decided, when the meds didn't show up in a reasonable time, to take his own, without asking or informing anyone. His doctor did change the orders when he came in, thank goodness, so he can "legally" get his meds on time. Just thought I'd say once again that when a hospitalized PWP is mentally capable of taking his/her meds in the right quantity at the right time, it's a very good idea to ask the doctor to write orders allowing it. The "ons" and "offs" of PWPs are too delicately balanced to tolerate hospital timing of the meds. Margie Swindler, cg for Dick, 55/18