Dr. Waring has a solo practice. When she is on vacation, she arranges for Dr. Dumphey to cover her patients. Dr. Dumphey's medical assistant, Theresa, has just received a call from a patient of Dr. Waring. The patient is an elderly woman, with multiple medical problems, who is possibly having a reaction to a medication that Dr. Waring prescribed two days ago for bronchitis. Her symptoms include nausea, upset stomach, dizziness, headache, rash on her chest, and extreme exhaustion. Theresa senses that the patient may be exhibiting some disorientation to time and place, because it is difficult to elicit consistent responses from her regarding her medications. The patient reports to Theresa that the newest medication she has been taking is Biaxin. The other medications she takes include Prinivil, Cardizem CD, Premarin, Prilosec, Robaxin, Zocor, Ambien, Prozac, Fosamax, Seldane, and aspirin. The patient does not know the dosage of any of these medications but is willing to "open up her bag of medicine" and read each prescription label to Theresa.

Does Theresa have an obligation, as Dr. Dumphey's medical assistant, to handle this situation with this patient, or should Dr. Waring simply be notified?

Is this an emergency situation or potential emergency situation and, if so, what should Theresa do immediately?

Because the patient seems disoriented, should Theresa even trust what the patient is reporting?

Should Theresa have the patient read the label of each of her medications?