Hmmmm. This situation surely is troubling isn't it. As a privacy/control freak I would have MAJOR, MAJOR problems with find out that my doctor spoke with another person without my knowledge/consent. Then to actually conspire with another person to medicate me without my knowledge would REALLY freak me out.

HOWEVER...I also (at least to my knowledge) am not suffering from a major psychotic condition. I feel that in my case, a competent health care professional should be able to deal with me directly and rationally and get me to take medication if necessary.

Ed...may not have been in this state at the time his physician and others were making these decisions for him. And maybe even now...he is having trouble comprehending where her really was mentally at that time.

I think this is where your therapeutic relationship and the integrity of the health care professionals working with you come in to play. Although I have only been with my new GP for a little over a year, in that time he as been excellent in treating me with respect, makes me feel like he is genuinely concerned with both my mental and physical well-being, has clearly indicated that he is willing to work collaboratively with me on mapping out my health care options and treatment approaches, and seems to know where I want his care boundaries to be. For example, I've confided in him that I am seeing a psychologist. During my visits he asks me if things are going OK and lets me know that he is willing to help me with that care. But he has never asked intrusive questions about my issues, required me to disclose anything, and has never asked for a report or permission to contact my T. My GP also treats my H, but short of asking in general how he is doing...my H's care and my care are totally separate. I don't think he would communcate with my H without my permission. If he did I would hit the roof...mainly because at this point I have some real trust issue with my H and my medical records do not give permission for medical disclosure. Based on my dealing with my GP to this point, I trust that he will respect my right to know everything about my care and that he will provide me with the best care possible.

Now, having said that... who should my physician communicate with in the event that I am not conscious or competent enough to make my own care decisions??? In that situation... I think my H would legally be appointed my guardian. I have a brother but... he wouldn't know what to do or what I would likely want done.My physician would have to partner with someone. This is scary even to think about. I hope I am never in a situation where I have to find out what would happen.

If I found myself dealing with the aftermath of a situation where I was demeaned incompetent by my doctor to make my own medical decisions, I hope I would be able to look at his actions and see that his intent was to provide me the best quality care. I would hope that if I did not approve of his handling of the situation (which would be the case if what happened to Ed happened to me), that I could see my GP's good intent and work through it from there. I would make my physician aware of my discomfort with how things were handled and would discuss exactly how I want to be treated in the event that this situation happened again. If my physician and I could not come to an agreement on an acceptable treatment plan for this type of situation....I would find a new GP.

I don't necessarily think this physician did anything wrong. Maybe the care rendered could have been done in a different manner, maybe it wasn't what the patient would have chosen for themselves. Maybe in hindsight, spiking his food was not appropriate. But then again... if Ed wasn't being cooperative and could not be communicated with on a rational basis.... what else should the the physician have done??? Hospitalized him, chain him to a bed and connected the IV? Which would be a less invasive/traumatic approach?

It sounds like the physician made a series of treatment decision that were intended to help the patient. It seems like the physician is also recognizing that the patient is competent enough now to make decisions for himself and therefore is informing the patient of the care that was render. He is not trying to hide his actions or keep the patient in the dark. He is not continuing to treat the patient as if he has no say in his medical care. This seems appropriate to me. If Ed is not comfortable with not knowing who the physician collaborated with... then he should specifically designate someone to make medical decisions on his behalf from this point on. In choosing that person I would want to know that they would be honesty with me (afterwards) about when and how they were called into service.