Multiple Sclerosis Case Study

The events leading up to this discussion was a series (3) of emergency department visits over 3 months for my friend, Dawn. She has Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and is noncompliant with her medication regime. Along with the noncompliance, she does not take responsibility for her own actions, it’s always someone else’s fault, never hers. During the prior ED visits she had been given specific instructions on what she needed to do to avoid another MS flare up, along with the correct medication to take. She was told to take the medication as directed, follow up with her doctor, not drink alcohol for 2 weeks, as alcohol interferes with one of the medications, and to rest, all things she didn’t do. The conversation happened face to face during the last

I said yes, so I changed clothes and went to the hospital. When I got there she was laughing and flirting with the male nurse who was starting her IV, didn’t seem to be in too much distress. I have seen how her previous flare ups had been; this didn’t look like a flare up to me. I asked her how she was feeling and what lead to her coming in. She stated that her heart had been racing, that her blood pressure was really high, and that she was in a lot of pain in her lower abdomen area, she just didn’t feel

Did you take them?” I’m starting to get angry at this point

Dawn- “No, I didn’t have the money” She’s laying on the bed, looking down at her hands

Me- “Why not? I gave you the money for them.”

Dawn- “Stacey (her daughter) wanted a new pair of jeans, so I bought her a pair. They’re really cute, you should see them!” She looks up with a big smile on her face

Me- “I gave you the money for the scripts not jeans for Stacey. Now look where you’re at. What were you thinking? You know how serious this is. You’ve been here before and you know what needs to be done to prevent further flare ups.” I’m sitting in a chair leaning in towards her, trying really hard not to yell her.

Dawn- “I know, I know, but I had to pay rent and didn’t have enough left over to pay for the meds, so I decided to buy the jeans instead. I figured I could get the meds with my next paycheck.” She was pretty relaxed now since the nurse had given her some morphine for the pain.

Me- “So about the scripts from the other 2 visits? Did you do anything with them?”

Dawn- “No, I didn’t have the money, plus Bobby was here and we went out a lot. I wanted to be able to have a couple drinks with