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The care giver together with the neurologist must take charge of the administration of medication required by the PWP when hospitalized. Dr. Mitchell Mills, a current CG in our Northern Virginia support group AND a former thoracic surgeon, has written more than once in this listing about doing just that. You should find it in the PIEN archives. Michel will johnston wrote: > 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