Letting something pass

The plaintiff in Allen v Harrison, Case # 111877, 2016 OK 44 (4/19/2016), decided by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, had the following facts. On June 1, the patient swallowed a "small nail." We don't know how small, but the first thing that came to my mind was an errant piece of orthodontic archwire; hey, it happens. She went to the hospital emergency room, and the ER physician examined her, ordered an x-ray of her stomach, and saw the foreign body sitting in the stomach just below the diaphragm. Based on his experience and assessment of the patient's clinical presentation and exercising due judgment, he released the patient, prescribing (1) "a high fiber diet to let the nail pass," (2) a return to the hospital if she had any problems, and (3) a follow-up appointment with her family doctor in 3 days.

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