It is not uncommon for us to get frantic calls from hospitalized patients or their loved ones, desperate for help either to compel some treatment or to prevent treatment from occurring. Can you use the law to compel medical care?
Generally speaking, absent rare exception, I am unaware of any such legal mechanism (although admittedly this is not a focus of our practice). It is a fascinating subject, and one that has recently come up nationally in the context of patients requesting prescriptions for Ivermectin treatment for COVID-19.
As you may know, Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication typically used to treat intestinal roundworm infections in humans, and to de-worm pets and livestock. Recently, some people have touted its use as a treatment for COVID-19 infections.
Some doctors support this use, and with that support, some patients have gone to court to seek an Order forcing hospitals to administer it. One scenario is: a patient is infected with COVID-19 and has to be hospitalized. She asks the hospital doctors to prescribe her Invermectin, and the hospital doctors refuse. So she has an out of hospital physician write her a prescription for Invermectin, and asks the Court to compel the hospital physicians to administer it.
And some courts have agreed.
Some of the interests to be balanced in these court decisions are fascinating. On one hand, the patient has a right to make their own decisions about whether or not to take a specific medication (absent rare exceptions). And, she has a medical doctor writing a prescription for a drug that is FDA approved.
On the other hand, the hospital doctors have a fiduciary duty to their patients (related to the general “do no harm” principle with which many of us are familiar). Can they refuse to administer the medication if they think it may be harmful? Would other laws protect them (such as laws in some states that allow a provider to refuse to provide treatment that violated their conscience)? Would they be censured by their state’s medical board? Could they be sued?
I have not heard of this coming up in Washington State, but it has come up in Ohio and Texas.
Here is a great blog post which I credit with raising these interesting issues:
