Soldier refusing surgery. doctor saying he could get admin separated instead of med boarded?
How’s it going everyone so I have some questions. I have a soldier with a legit shoulder injury. Doc says surgery would likely fix the issue, but he’s refusing it. Naturally I asked why, expecting maybe fear of recovery time, bad experience or something
And he tells me “I don’t believe in going under or getting surgeries unless they’re life threatening.”
Ok… your body, your right I get it. Problem is he physically cannot perform his job right now because of the injury. Today he came back saying his provider basically told him that if he keeps refusing the surgery, the commander could potentially admin chapter him instead of medically separating him and it could affect future benefits and gave him a deadline to make a decision before he reached out to our commander (I really do not believe this is legal). I’ve heard bits and pieces about refusal of treatment affecting MEB outcomes, but I’ve never personally dealt with this situation before. Does that actually sound right? I’m just Mainly trying to figure out who should this soldier be talking to? Patient advocate? Legal? Another provider for a second opinion? Not trying to force the dude into surgery, but I also don’t want him accidentally nuking his future benefits because he’s philosophically beefing with anesthesia. Anyone dealt with this before or can point a young leader to the right place to deal with this?