[Expert Solution]: A 75-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War is…

A 75-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War is brought to the hospital by a friend. He has a long history of mental disease and alcohol addiction. He has been drinking and is hallucinating that Viet Cong are attacking him. He is breathless, has fainted twice in the last hour, and is incontinent of urine. He says his heart is breaking through his chest. He says he must leave the hospital because it is being bombed. The admitting physician writes in the chart, “I noted hallucinations and psychotic ideation; I am putting the patient on a medical hold and keeping him in the hospital for observation. Diagnosis: paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. Medications: haloperidol, digitalis. Further evaluation: assess electrolytes.”