Errors in Medicine Malpractice is defined as improper, illegal, or negligent behavior that falls below the professional minimum standard of care or service for a patient or a client, when injury or loss has been suffered by patient or client.(Merriam-Webster) Malpractice happens when you turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing in a healthcare setting, also known as omission. Omission is when you fail at doing something that you have a legal obligation to do.(Merriam-Webster) Malpractice essentially has four parts, duty, breach, damages, and causation. (“The 4 Elements of Medical Malpractice”) Duty, what you owe the patient, as a healthcare professional. Breach, what is owed to the patient when they are breached by the responsible party. Damages, …show more content…
For hundreds of years doctors and other medical professionals have gotten away with little to no punishment when doing wrong in the medical field. Medical Malpractice happens in the care of the reckless medical professional and can be stopped by the correct supervision and discipline. Although medical malpractice is something huge, it could be eliminated by just taking a little extra time and review the care that is being given to a patient. Would you allow someone to give the care you’re giving to others, to your own family? You need the bed, so you discharge early. Patients aren’t properly informed. Legal documents aren’t thoroughly explained. Shortage of staff, hospital downsizing, or mergers. (“Nursing Center”) The only thing that the medical team should be worried about it the care of all of the patients. The medical field would become more advanced if the actual medicine was practiced the right way. Lives are being compromised everyday with incompetent doctors, practicing medicine. Medical Malpractice can be solved with the buckling down of the medical professionals, and the administration that watch over these professionals. Medicine is a complicated field, where lives, money, and careers are put on the line for such an important matter. Together, we can lessen, even eliminate Medical Malpractice all
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Show MoreDay 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).
Negligence and malpractice are terms that many use interchangeably, but the meanings are very different. Healthcare is one practice that has been in existence for centuries whether informally or formally. Since the first birth of any kind, the nurturing and caring of each other man or beast utilized the methods available to restore or maintain life. Since the 19th century, instructional school for nursing was established, streamlining the institution of health care today. In the previous centuries, caring for the sick was not the industry we know today. One did not worry about negligence and malpractice lawsuits, but today one has to be knowledgeable and aware of the implications of both negligence and malpractice in the 20th century practice of healthcare. This paper will explore the difference between negligence, and malpractice, and what one can do as humanly possible, to avoid being the subject of either. It will explore the importance of accurate and adequate documentation and how important it is for nurses to maintain Professional
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.
For healthcare providers, there is no word that elicits as much frustration, fear and anger as much as the word “malpractice.” Medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient. Medical malpractice is a specific subset of tort law that deals with professional negligence. In order to prove that there was some type of negligence going on you must show that:
It is unfortunate to say that medical malpractice is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Medical malpractice is defined as negligence committed by a medical professional. Malpractice lawsuits have existed in the United States for more than 150 years, most of which were never pursued in court. Medical malpractice is interfering with patients’ rights as well as demanding high costs. However, medical malpractice can be overcome by managing the costs involved, and by regulating, enforcing and advocating patient rights.
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or healthcare medical professional makes a mistake that causes serious injury, physical or mental harm or death. Legally, it is considered medical malpractice when a doctor fails to comply with a reasonable standard of care. It is a form of negligence that applies to those in the medical profession. Tragically, a doctor’s mistake can have severe, or even deadly, consequences for trusting patients and their families.
Overall, malpractice cases in the United States are an underlying issue in the healthcare system. When regarding failed sterilization procedures, there is a high burden on both men and women that they must face. The McLaughlin V. Cooke case, Goforth v Porter Medical Associates Inc. case, and John McConkey v. State of Tennessee case all clearly depict how different negligent mistakes from healthcare professional can result in a serious injury towards patients. Legal medical malpractice lawsuits alleviate some of the damages caused, however not enough people seek help after encountering a malpractice case. It is crucial for people to be aware of their rights, so that these “little” mistakes are taken care of. Eventually, the less malpractice cases there are the better healthcare system there is here in the United States.
The medical malpractice and tort system makes up one of the major legal issues encountered by hospitals and health systems. Showalter (2012) states that with the decline of charitable immunity in the 1970s, healthcare was one of the areas impacted by personal injury law and was held liable for negligent acts. Today, malpractice continues to be a significant problem. Malpractice lawsuits are considered when negligence in medical treatment provided by a physician, surgeon, other health professional, or hospital results in injury. Most states require physicians to have liability insurance and hospitals and other healthcare facilities to purchase their own insurance and policies in order to cover the medical staff. The number of malpractice claims continues to rise; Klein (2002) reports that obstetrics, diagnosis errors, surgery, and medicine are the areas of highest liability. In the year 2011, there were over 9,497 paid claims. With the total number of dollars paid in claims averaging over $3,177,305.00 (Kaiser Family Foundation, n.d.). Medical liability premiums have also increased. According to Page and Fields (2011), AMA reported that medical liability premiums in the United States between 1976 and 2009 experienced a 950 percent increase. Malpractice lawsuits are a major expenditure for health organizations, especially hospitals, hence the importance of developing strategies to reduce the prevalence of negligent acts.
Not only do health care providers have an ethical implication to care for patients, they also have a legal obligation and responsibility to care for the patient. According to the Collins English dictionary, a duty of care is ‘the legal obligation to safeguard others from harm while they are in your care, using your services or exposed to your activities’. The legal definition takes it further by making it a requirement that a person act towards others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence which a reasonable person in the circumstances would use. If a person’s actions fail to meet the required standard, then the acts are considered negligent (Hill and Hill, 2002). If a professional fails to abide to the standard of practice for their practice in regards to their peers, they leave themselves open to criticisms or claims of breach of duty of care, and possibly negligence. Negligence is comprised of five elements: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) cause in fact, (4) proximate cause, and (5) harm. Duty is defined as the implied duty to care/provide service, breach is the lack thereof, cause in fact must be proven by plaintiff, proximate cause means that only the harm caused directly causative to the breach itself and not additional causation, and harm is the specific injury resultant from the breach.
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.
Generally speaking, negligence, error, incompetence, these are the words commonly associated with malpractice yet many have no idea what the true definition states. Malpractice can be defined according to the legal nurse consultant of Independent Medical Evaluations Inc., Jan Parrish (2010), “as a violation of professional duty or a failure to meet a standard of care or failure to use the skills and knowl...
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error.
Medical errors and malpractice is becoming a major problem in America.There are approximately 15,000-19,000 lawsuits against doctors yearly.(medicalnewstoday.com) There are many reason behind why this is such a problem. I will be touching on each reason and why each of them has become a problem. This is not just something that affects doctors, all medical personnel are responsible for patient care. When we think of medical malpractice the first thing we think of is a doctor who has caused physical harm to a patient.This is not the only example the harm can be physical or mental and it also affects physician assistants, nurses, psychiatrist,dentist, therapists, optometrist, and pharmacist. Medical errors and malpractice are in my opinion not
Medical errors have been plaguing our country for decades. The first time that doctors acknowledged that medical mistakes could lead to death and injury was during the 1950’s. No action is taken at this time to improve hospitals, and
Medical Doctors have a vast amount of duties and responsibilities they must perform daily in order to ensure a superlative level of care for all patients. Commitment to professional competence is an essential part of physician responsibility. Physicians must be committed to lifelong learning, and be able to adapt and maintain medical knowledge, and clinical and team skills. More broadly, the profession as a whole must progress to the point that all practicing medicine will be competent and have the mechanisms available to accomplish this goal. Commitment to honesty with patients is another essential role of all physicians. Physicians must make sure that patients are completely and honestly informed before the treatment and after it has occurred. This means that patients should not be involved in every minute decisions regarding their medical care, but be supported to decide on the course of therapy. Whenever patients are injured as a result of medical care, patients should be notified rapidly, because failure to report this could seriously compromise patient and societal trust. Reporting and analyzing medical mal-practice provides the basis for appropriate prevention and improveme...