There is a widespread assumption that only physicians can be found guilty of medical malpractice. However, nurses are now required to have malpractice insurance, as well. The Cambridge Dictionary defines malpractice as “the failure of a doctor or other professional to do his or her job with a reasonable degree of skill, esp. when that person’s actions or failure to act causes injury or loss” (n.d., def. 1). There are some lawsuit-happy people in today’s society that seek lofty payments for malpractice claims, on the other hand, a vast amount of malpractice lawsuits are justifiable. There are certain elements that must be proved in order to make a malpractice claim. According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the …show more content…
The HR Director is responsible for investigating the situation and all parties involved to conclude if malpractice is evident. It is a role of the Human Resources Director to be involved in patient safety, which is dependent upon the actions of the facility’s personnel (Shi, 2010, p. 211). Employee training in maintaining patient safety and training on malpractice avoidance can be incorporated into new hire orientation. There are 4 elements that must be identified to have a valid malpractice case. According to Giordano, “the law recognizes that much of nursing care requires clinical judgment. Consequently, a patient must prove 4 requisite elements to establish a malpractice case” (2003, para. 3). Thus, the HR Director in the case study can use the same elements to manage the …show more content…
According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the organization must hire qualified staff to perform specific functions, provide opportunities for professional growth, provide adequate library services, provide staff opportunities to express ideas, provide and maintain adequate equipment and supplies, and ensure that managers and supervisors are performing their duties appropriately (n.d.). If the organization follows these basic guidelines, then there will be a decrease in the possibility of a malpractice case. Fallon & McConnell explain that having employees participate in some organizational decisions because this helps to avoid potential problems (n.d.). Providing employees with opportunities for open discussion can help HR managers identify the areas that employees may need additional training and development. Furthermore, employees can give their input on daily operations of the organization that executives, managers, and supervisors may not be
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….
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
Explain the issue or dilemma using information from the readings in the book and other sources.
In order to prove a negligence case the plaintiff must prove four things: (1) duty - that the defendant owed
Weld, K., & Garmon Bibb, S. (2009). Concept analysis: malpractice and modern-day nursing practice. Nursing Forum, 44(1), 2-10. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2009.00121.x
Medical malpractice lawsuits are an extremely serious topic and have affected numerous patients, doctors, and hospitals across the country. Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional” (Medical malpractice, n.d.). If a doctor acts negligent and causes harm to a patient, malpractice lawsuits arise. Negligence is the concept of the liability concerning claims of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of tort law. Tort law provides that one person may litigate negligence to recover damages for personal injury. Negligence laws are designed to deter careless behavior and also to compensate victims for any negligence.
Day by day medical technology is improving, unfortunately so are cases of nursing malpractice. By understanding the laws that governs nursing practice, it will help the nurse protect client’s rights and reduce the risk of nursing liability (Sommer, 2013, p. 23). It’s usually necessary to prove that the nurse was negligent to prove nursing malpractice. The Joint Commission defines negligence as a “failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would under similar circumstances” and malpractice as “improper or unethical conduct or unreasonable lack of skill by a holder of a professional or official position. Sommer defines professional negligence as the failure of a person who has a professional training to act in a reasonable and prudent manner (p. 24).
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.
In the case Lunsford v. Board of Nurse Examiners, the nurse had an unprofessional conduct by violating a duty to her patient leaving the patient unattended and at risk of complications (BON, 2013a). Lunsford, as a professional nurse had the responsibility to assess the patient’s medical status and treat the patient within her scope of practice taking the appropriate measurements to prevent the worse, regardless of the doctor’s orders of sending the patient to another facility. “The Board of Nurse Examiners in Texas suspended the nurse’s license to practice after the Board found that the nurse’s conduct was unprofessional and dishonorable conduct likely to injure the public” (Wolf, 1986, p. 222). Nurse Lunsford fail to take the patient’s vital signs, and did not implement the nursing interventions required to stabilize the patient’s condition or to prevent complications. Her conduct is considered an “unprofessional conduct,” which is any act, practice, or administration that does not conform the accepted standards of nursing practice. Also, this case is a clear example of the nurse responsibility and accountability to act independently regardless of the physician’s order when this order is not safe for the patient. If the nurse has any objections about an order, the nurse has the obligation to question the physician. By no doing so, the nurse violates the nurse-patient relationship and put at risk the patient’s safety. In a situation, in which a physician’s order put the patient at risk, the nurse has the obligation to exert her professional judgement and withdraw from rendering services ordered by the physician (Wolf, 1986, p.
...t is important for human resources to do the best they can to find out everything they need to about the applicants they screen. Background and reference checks are crucial before any applicant is hired. Negligent hiring claims can be costly and the only one to blame is the hospital. If human resources did not find important information regarding the background of an employee and the patient filling the lawsuit can, the hospital will more than likely be found negligent. Careful and smart hiring will save a hospital a great deal in fees and their reputation.
One important fact in this case is medication that the physician administered to the patient is not listed in the case study. All information must be documented, this helps to keep track in the event the patient gets a reaction this is significant information that must be recorded. Although this may be unimportant to the case this should still be listed. As this patient condition worsened he was diagnosed with osteomyelitis. As mentioned above knowing all medications being administered are important, when treatment first began the pharmacist in this case did exceptionally well keeping track of the medications being administered. Another important factor is that the pharmacist kept track of the care being provided to the patient because the pharmacist reviewed patient results he was able to make suggestions to the physician to check the patients creatinine levels. However the pharmacist in the case is the defendant. Although the pharmacist did well in reviewing the patient’s information during most of the treatment, he did fail to do a follow up check. The
Legal research on health care: The part of HR supervisor reaches out to look into on standards and control administering the human resources framework in connection to its workers. Statutes, for example, Medicare and Medicaid patient protection Act of 1987 are critical with which a Health Care Organization ought to be knowledgeable.
Parrish, J. (2010). Elements of negligence in nursing malpractice. Independent Medical Evaluations Inc. 12 Mar 2014. Retrieved from http://www.imei.com/connections/elements.html
It is right of a patient to be safe at health care organization. Patient comes to the hospital for the treatment not to get another disease. Patient safety is the most important issue for health care organizations. Patient safety events cost of thousands of deaths and millions of dollars an-nually. Even though the awareness of patient safety is spreading worldwide but still we have to accomplish many things to achieve safe environment for patients in the hospitals. Proper admin-istrative changes are required to keep health care organization safe. We need organizational changes, effective leadership, strong health care policies and effective health care laws to make patients safer.
How should the board of nursing find in such a case? Is the nurse guilty of professional misconduct? Would your answer about the nurse's misconduct differ if the physician is found to have committed professional misconduct by the board of medicine?