diff --git a/include/spdk/nvme.h b/include/spdk/nvme.h
index 20f4b7d0b..3b15c01da 100644
--- a/include/spdk/nvme.h
+++ b/include/spdk/nvme.h
@@ -218,6 +218,12 @@ typedef void (*spdk_nvme_attach_cb)(void *cb_ctx, const struct spdk_nvme_probe_i
  * Callback for spdk_nvme_probe() to report that a device attached to the userspace NVMe driver
  * has been removed from the system.
  *
+ * The controller will remain in a failed state (any new I/O submitted will fail).
+ *
+ * The controller must be detached from the userspace driver by calling spdk_nvme_detach()
+ * once the controller is no longer in use.  It is up to the library user to ensure that
+ * no other threads are using the controller before calling spdk_nvme_detach().
+ *
  * \param ctrlr NVMe controller instance that was removed.
  */
 typedef void (*spdk_nvme_remove_cb)(void *cb_ctx, struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr);
diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme.c b/lib/nvme/nvme.c
index df3f53e52..51123e264 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme.c
@@ -489,7 +489,6 @@ static int
 nvme_hotplug_monitor(void *cb_ctx, spdk_nvme_probe_cb probe_cb, spdk_nvme_attach_cb attach_cb,
 		     spdk_nvme_remove_cb remove_cb)
 {
-	int rc = 0;
 	struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr;
 	struct spdk_uevent event;
 
@@ -522,14 +521,6 @@ nvme_hotplug_monitor(void *cb_ctx, spdk_nvme_probe_cb probe_cb, spdk_nvme_attach
 				if (remove_cb) {
 					remove_cb(cb_ctx, ctrlr);
 				}
-				if (spdk_process_is_primary()) {
-					rc = spdk_nvme_detach(ctrlr);
-					if (rc) {
-						SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to hot detach nvme address: %04x:%04x:%04x.%u\n",
-							    event.pci_addr.domain, event.pci_addr.bus, event.pci_addr.dev,
-							    event.pci_addr.func);
-					}
-				}
 			}
 		}
 	}