Medical Operating Procedures

Standard of Care

A reasonable level of provided medical care where the medical personnel assumes a duty of care where they are expected to treat an individual to the best of their abilities.

For example, a medical intern may not have the resources to provide optimal medical care, when there is a lack of resources, such as advanced medical treatment and or technology.

While errors are permissible, egregious errors resulting in grievous injuries or death can incur endangerment charges and civil liability. If a patient does not wish to be tended to, you are free of liability.

Medbay Priority

The Chief Medical Officer is the lead medical expert and has the final say in medical situations.

The chemistry lab is to be primarily operated by chemists followed by the senior physician. Special circumstances can allow other personnel to operate the lab such as but not limited to; no chemist is available or their status is unknown or skeleton crew access.

Treatment of patients is primarily the responsibility of medical doctors, who are expected to handle all medical care including life saving surgeries.

Rescue operations should be carried out by paramedics, prioritizing safety and stabilization of patients.

The corpsman takes priority over doctors and paramedics when it comes to treating or rescuing security personnel, unless the number of casualties exceeds what a single corpsman can effectively manage or the corpsman requests assistance.

Medical interns may be assigned a doctor as their mentor to teach them the basics and proper application of medicine. Interns may observe or assist in surgeries but cannot act as the primary surgeon unless no other doctors are available during an emergency.

Medical Evaluation

The Chief Medical Officer of any station or vessel may declare any on-duty personnel unfit for duty and order them to be demoted; well within the grounds of medical reasoning and documentation; this includes the Commanding Officer, who cannot overrule this procedure.

Case Law: Nanotrasen Station NTDV 0592 versus Captain Starry McFluffs The Commanding Officer at the time was investigated and deemed to be found— extremely intoxicated and unable to comprehensibly communicate with their staff and subordinates, resulting in the lack of faith and ability to command, and or negligence on the station's safety, where the Supermatter began the Delamination Event due to their inebriated state— the Head of Personnel had to step in as the Elected Commanding Officer, to prevent station wide destruction and panic, thereby enacting the Chief Medical Officer and Elected Commanding Officer to deem the original Commanding Officer unfit for duty.

The Chief Medical Officer and relevant Departmental Head must both agree that the specified crewmate is unfit for duty for the demotion to take effect.

Right to Refuse Service

Any and all medical staff, at anytime, can refuse to treat medical care to patients for any of the following conditions or reasonings:

A. Disruptive or Abusive patient— threatening, verbally abusing, or endangering staff and patients alike.

B. or, Violation of the Hippocratic Oath— going against the ethics of the medical personnel

C. or, Medical resources constraint

D. or, genuine lack of expertise in treatment methods

Quarantine

Medical personnel are afforded the right to quarantine any individual or individuals that suffer from an infectious or contagious diseases; allowing them to confine them within predesignated quarantine zones then providing a course for treatment until they are no longer a vector of infection or contagion that's harmful to the crew.

Do Not Resuscitate / DNR

A Do Not Resuscitate or DNR order is a legal document that instructs medical personnel not to perform lifesaving treatment or cloning to the individual listed on the order.

A. The individual is a drain on medical resources, implicating them that they do not value their own life

B. or, an elective by the individual themselves to not be resuscitated

C. or, a lawful injunction or court order, i.e.: stasis for malicious, difficult-to-contain individuals

Surgical Procedures

Only trained, capable medical personnel should be able to do invasive procedures or surgeries, this includes, but not limited to removal of implants or inspection. Standard of Care applies to this procedure. Any personnel who are not active medical staff, or, in emergency situations, the corpsman/Captain/ACO, are not to commit surgery on another individual, as it is considered a felony. Organs from space animals (the Space Cobra Heart, Dragon Lungs, Goliath Heart, Laser Raptor Eyes, and Space Animal Lungs/Heart) should not be installed without express permission from the CMO and the HoS, or other applicable Security personnel in the absence of a HoS, otherwise it may be considered a felony.

Medical personnel may handle mechanical limb replacements and other such duties that may normally fall under Roboticist if they were given explicit permission to do so by the Roboticist(s) or there is no active Roboticists on station.