Medical Malpractice An overview When the doctor or hospital made an error or some type of omission during a medical procedure, consultation, diagnosis, surgery or other types of healthcare, they commit a Medical malpractice. Although it can be stated that the doctors are negligent in performing their duty, it is not a mere negligence. Medical professionals are usually held to higher standards of performance according to the local customary practices and training. Medical professionals can be held liable of the medical malpractice, if they provide medical services below the accepted standards, which, in its turn, leads to severe injuries or even death of the patient. In addition, the wronged patient has to prove that the result of the medical care or surgical intervention was not foreseeable or necessary. Every State’s law regulates standards of the medical care in relation with medical malpractice. To determine the standard of medical care for malpractice case, one must find out what are specific regulations for medical malpractice in th...
Medical malpractice has been a controversial issue in the healthcare setting for centuries. Apparently, there are laws to protect patients’ from medical mistakes and errors that are the result of negligence. After researching various laws and medical liability cases based on allegations of negligence, this paper will discuss and provide details on the medical malpractice case of Dorrence Kenneth versus Charleston Community Memorial Hospital. The case analysis will briefly explain information from the beginning to end, including: laws that were violated, codes in the healthcare industry that were breached by the physician and Charlesto...
Since no man is perfect in this world, it is evident that a person who is skilled and has knowledge over a particular subject can also commit mistakes during his practice. Too err is human but to replicate the same mistake due to one’s carelessness is negligence. The fundamental reason behind medical error or medical negligence is the carelessness of the said doctors or medical professionals it can be observed in various cases where reasonable care is not taken during the diagnosis, during operations, sometimes while injecting anesthesia
Medical malpractice has become a controversial social issue. From a doctor’s standpoint, decisions and preventative actions can alter the medical malpractice lawsuits filed against them. In order to protect their career and professional life medical malpractice insurance is available. Medical professional liability insurance, sometimes known as medical malpractice insurance, is one type of professional liability insurance. “Professional liability refers to liability that arises from a failure to use due care and the standard of care expected from a person in a particular profession, in this case a doctor, dentist, nurse, hospital or other health-related organization” (Brandenburg, 2014).
Medical malpractice is like a virus that spreads contagiously and has been going on for many years. This phenomenon has caused deaths, diseases, and injuries due to the negligence of medical professionals towards their patients. Hospitals are losing their reputation and doctors are losing lots of their money. Usually after the doctor does something wrong, the patient should file a lawsuit against them and the hospital. One way to prevent malpractice is to pick younger doctors who are more careful with what they are doing. Malpractice is an occurrence that should be stopped soon or many injuries could occur to the patient due to the doctor’s negligence.
When a driver runs a red light and no accident occurs, the driver is still negligent, even though no one got hurt. Similarly, a doctor or other health care professional might deviate from the appropriate medical standard of care in treating a patient, but if the patient is not harmed and their health is not impacted, that negligence won’t lead to a medical malpractice case.
That is the rising number of negligent acts committed by medical professionals. Failure to follow standard of practice is the leading root cause of the troubles involving malpractice. Failure to assess and monitor the patient, failure to communicate, medication errors, negligent delegation or supervision and failure to obtain informed consent from patients are the top failures leading to malpractice. The American Nurses Association provides scopes and standards that if followed could prevent many of the negligent acts. Duty, Breach of Duty, Foreseeability, Causation, Injury, Damages must be proven for a nurse to be held
Clinical negligence is a civil case wherein an individual may claim compensation for the suffered damages or death of the patient, that results from medical malpractice by the liable health care provider.
Is was estimated back 2011, a $2.27 was spend and over four billion in insurance claims were processed in the U.S..
Medical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice as a result of delaying a procedure is the case of Waverly family versus John Hopkins Health System Corporation. The victims were not compensated enough for the loss of their child’s normal life. Pozgar (2012) explained….
When evaluating medical malpractice, this can be performed by any healthcare professional. It is easy to classify this to be misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, even not taking the time to evaluate a patient properly. When practicing medicine it is important that all measures be taken when a patient is showing signs of infection or having any adverse reaction to medication. In the case study below this is a prime example of the importance of checking patient progression.
To most of society, medical errors reflect poorly on a doctor. Many accuse the physician of being negligent and incompetent in the event of a medical error, but the truth is they are simply human. The stigmatization of medical errors is a result of the high, almost god-like, expectations society has placed upon physicians. In his book Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, Dr. Atul Gawande highlights several reasons doctors have trouble admitting their medical mistakes and why they shouldn’t.
Medicalization and the Construction of a Bionic Society Just four decades ago, audiences were intrigued by the science fiction television series The Bionic Woman; the tale of a woman who is re-built and in a sense reborn after sustaining life-threatening injuries. Jamie Sommers was saved with the help of surgical implants and prosthetics that not only repaired her broken body, but enhanced her previous abilities with super-human strength. Today, the term bionic is used to describe a society changed by the social construct of medicalization, a term defined as assigning a medical meaning to a person’s physical characteristics, mental processes, and deviant behaviors (Schierenbeck, 2010). Medicalization, with the assistance of biotechnology, allows individuals to seek medical intervention to enhance their ability to be better than well (Maturo, 2012). Medicalization has given medical meaning to a broad scope of normal human occurrences such as, feelings of sadness and shyness, physical changes in the human body due to aging, and to behaviors that do not fit into the current social norms.
Medicare, enacted on 1965 is one of the most important and inclusive government funded health insurance program which covers the elderly, the disabled and people with end stage renal diseases. With Medicare covering specifically the elderly and the disabled, the cost is usually on the higher side. There are different ways in which Medicare provides reimbursement and this usually is a machine run process with little scanning is done by human eyes, making it vulnerable to abuse and corruption. Also with the ever increasing number of people covered under Medicare and the number of claims that are filed daily it becomes really difficult to control Medicare malpractice. And if one learns the process of reimbursement, then there are many ways in
In the medical ethics case study given to me, Justin is new nurse at a hospital and has become great help to the other employees but he makes mistakes often. When it comes to medical ethics, it is important to do what you know is morally correct. We all want to be good Christians and make the right decisions but sometimes those decisions will affect others negatively. We may not always act how we ought to but those decisions do affect who we are.
Fist I would like to talk about importance of medical record in case of law suit. The legal system trusts mainly on documentary which are sign. In a charge of negligence, very often the most important are the record which can proof the action doctor took. With the increasing use of medical insurance for usage, the insurance companies also need proper record keeping, to prove the patient 's request for medical expenses. Improper record keeping can result in decreasing medical claims. It is scary to note that in spite of knowing the importance of proper record keeping is still in a promising stage. It is wise to remember that “Poor records mean poor defense, no records mean no defense”- this can be consider as a golden rule of medical records. Medical records contain a diversity of documentation of patient 's history, clinical results, diagnostic test results, preoperative care, procedure notes, postoperative attention, and daily notes of a patient 's progress and medications. A properly obtained consent will go a long way in demonstrating that the procedures were directed with the agreement of the patient. A correctly written working note can protect a doctor in case of