I don’t know that, that is why I formed the rules issue as a question. What I do know, based on several close family members in the medical profession, is that patients’ families are their worst enemies. My mother-in-law was working the rehab floor when a gastric bypass patient was brought McDonalds by his mom. They were caught, but the mom kept the bag in her purse and was sneeking him bites. My mother-in-law discovered it by the smell.
I hear you, and know what you say about family members’ potential to be the patient’s worst nightmare. That’s why hospital staff have to man-up and enforce rules, especially those in ICU. Lifestyle/Behavior have always accounted for most of our health troubles. UK social workers are actually taking fat kids out of their home and putting them into foster care due to the pathological behavior of their parents. Are you in favor of that for children in the USA? We all gotta die from something, sooner or later. Terrible that it was this child, but where does the Nanny State rank in our freedom to be self-destructive?