Page 21 - Hospitalists - Risks When You're the Doctor in the House (Part One)

SVMIC Hospitalists - Risks When You’re the Doctor in the House

construes his duties as “attending physician” to mean he

is responsible for admitting the patient and supervising
his care, but denied having “ultimate responsibility” for

the patient. He “merely admits them”, provides indicated
treatment, contacts consultants for assistance, and

eventually discharges the patient. He expects the
consultant he contacts to “take a role” in the patient’s care

and defers to their advice. Consultants report back to him,
he stated, but only as a courtesy. Dr. Murphy does not

sign off on or approve their advice. He expects consultant
physicians to form a plan of action and act accordingly.

He acknowledged that attending physicians have the
discretion to decline the advice from a consultant, but

indicated he typically follows the advice of all consultants.

Dr. Murphy stated that he similarly relies upon the nursing
staff to take care of a patient’s needs. He typically only

communicated with nurses verbally and rarely read or
relied upon the nursing notes. Dr. Murphy normally spoke

with nurses in the morning upon his arrival, but again, did
not read the nursing notes. In 2016, Trinity Hospital was

equipped with computerized electronic health records
that he could access, but Dr. Murphy testified he preferred

to rely upon his personal discussions.

Upon his initial arrival to the hospital in the morning, Dr.

Murphy would ordinarily check the status of a patient,
including any complaints, vital signs, significant changes,

lab values, x-rays, and blood work, and he would follow up
on consultant’s recommendations. He would then speak

with the nurses, again not typically reading their notes.
Nursing notes and case manager notes were kept in

separate locations of the electronic chart, so Dr. Murphy

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