When is medical personnel (doctors and nurses) not responsible for a patient ?

Question

And yet at the same time responsible for that patient ? If a patient demands something they have the that right, yet if they are wrong it is the medical personnel who is responsible. Why does almost everything falls back into the hands of the medical personal even after a patient is demanding their rights? If you demand things aren't you automatically obligated to take the consequences and responsibilities pertaining to your demands.

Answer 1

Generally speaking, if the patient has been "well informed" and chooses to ignore medical advice, it is no ones problem but their own.

(assuming you're talking about someone like an uncontrolled diabetic, in the hospital, eating a dozen donuts her "friend" brought in)

Answer 2

This is what documentation in the chart is for.

I don't quite know what it is you have in mind, but if it's a situation like the previous poster outlined, or a question of leaving a hospital against medical advice (AMA), the doctors have to explain why they don't think the patient's action is a good idea, and explain in the chart what they did and said and that the patient chose to do something else.

A patient cannot just demand anything, full stop.  They have autonomy, assuming they are competent to make decisions for themselves, but they can't, say, demand that a surgeon take out their appendix if the surgeon doesn't think that they have appendicitis, or demand that a doctor prescribe a drug if that is not medically warranted.  But they certainly have the right to refuse any given treatment, if they choose to do so, even if refusing will (in the doctor's opinion) lead to a bad outcome.  They are free to not take their medications (short of a court order) and they are free to ignore medical advice.

We, on the other hand, are obligated to treat the patient to the best of our ability, but we can't force treatment on anyone (if a competent adult).  If a patient refuses, so be it.  But we aren't obligated to do exactly what a patient wants if we don't think it's the right thing to do.