Liability (general - not attorney advice)
A hypothetical (somewhat) scenario:
An elderly patient begins voiding large amounts of blood when they use the bathroom. They are in the mid to moderate stages of dementia, and very secretive and paranoid about sharing anything around their health with their family. The dementia has caused perceptual, disruptions, and the patient believes that the blood in the toilet is her “special ability” to make colorful urine, and a special trick that she can do.
This belief causes her to brag to her family about the pretty “tinkle” in the toilet. When she does, her adult children immediately realize that there’s a problem, and ask her if she’s talked to the doctor about it. She insists that the reason that she is putting all that lovely color into the toilet is due to being special, and accuses the family members of being jealous.
She will not listen to their requests that she call her doctor, and discuss it with him, and gets angry when they insist that she needs to be evaluated.
The adult children have attempted through multiple avenues to get this information to their mother’s PCP. They have been blocked at every avenue, have called the patient safety line and left a message, have submitted an online form for the patient safety portal, have called the office and been blocked (by people who clearly don’t understand HIPAA), and so the blood in the urine continues, the patient ends up with pain and is eventually evaluated and diagnosed with Stage 3 bladder cancer.
Wouldn’t the system have some liability for refusing to listen to family members’ concerns early enough to treat it without as many complications? (especially if there’s lots of documentation that attempts were made to get the information to her provider,…)