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LEGAL UPDATE
John L.A. Lyddane, JD
CARE WITH CAUTION
What are the liability
ramifications of a post-op
phone call?
Legal Liability in Post-Discharge Phone Calls
How should this nurse have handled patient's post-op complaint?
After minimally invasive surgery, post-op observation is usually brief and uneventful. Complications can always arise, however, some manifesting themselves as the patient recovers at home. As such, it's important to keep in mind that the phone conversation or other contacts you have with patients having post-discharge complaints may carry legal liability. Does the advice your nurses dispense
during follow-up calls put your facility at risk?
Who's responsible?
Consider the case of Flanagan v. Southside Hospital, decided in 1998. Christine Flanagan underwent a bilateral tubal ligation with no