The standard of care is an anthropomorphic concept of justice. It is the degree of care a prudent person would carry out in a specific circumstance. As a general test the standard of care required is an objective one, which is of a ‘reasonable person’. The reasonable person deals with the question: What would a reasonable person have foreseen in the particular circumstance? Therefore the defendant is required to take as much care as a reasonable person would have taken in his position. However, in circumstances to deal with intentional tort, the court may apply subjective test. Even though the ‘reasonable man’ test is applied equally to everyone, the standard of care varies from situations to situations. This is because certain conducts that is intolerable in ordinary circumstances shall be fair in emergency situations. The reasonable man test always relies upon the situations that prevailed at the time the defendant acted. However standard of care can be adjusted for people with special skills, a doctor who is a professional and minors. The standard of care is a straight forward concept in the sense that it applies for everyone. In the case of Nettleship v Weston , though it …show more content…
Contrary to Nettleship case, in Cook v Cook , a learner driver would possibly owe a unique standard of care relying upon whether or not the applicant was categorized as a “supervising” traveller or Associate in in “ordinary” traveller .Taking into consideration the dissenting judgement of the Nettleship v Weston , it can be deduced that upholding the same standard of care to everyone can be too harsh. Such that a learner driver cannot owe a duty of care to the instructor to a degree of knowledge which she does not possess. The problem with the decision in this case is that it imposes liability without a genuine
“One of those obligations is that it must exercise a proper degree of care for its patients, and, to the extent that it fails in that care, it should be liable in damages as any other commercial firm would be
Without question the cost of medical care in this country has skyrocketed over the last few decades. Walk into an emergency room with an earache or the need for a few stitches and you’re apt to walk out with a bill that is nothing short of shocking.
What ethical principles were impacted? What was the ethical duty of care to Lewis? How was it breached?
Negligence cases necessitate that the standard of care required of an individual is the same conduct of a reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances. However, a specialist within a profession may be held to a standard of care greater than that of a general practitioner. This also needs to be an objective standard.
In nursing practice this definition is more detailed and is defined by NHS choices as,
Codes of nursing ethics and legal legislation have addressed almost all the necessary action in making decision in consideration to the best interest of the patient. Nurses must make sure that they are all guided by the set standard to lead their action and produced desirable and ethically sound outcome. However, it is realistic to acknowledge that there are some instances that moral act contradict legal act, in this case, the principle of prima facie can be applied.
Each person has a basic human right to be given proper medical care. Likewise, it is a social and legal duty for any health care staff and professional to appropriately provide medical services that strictly adhere to the sound practice standards as established by the medical community.
Paramedics deemed the patient competent and therefore Ms. Walker had the right to refuse treatment, which held paramedics legally and ethically bound to her decisions. Although negligent actions were identified which may have resulted in a substandard patient treatment, paramedics acted with intent to better the patient despite unforeseen future factors. There is no set structure paramedics can follow in an ethical and legal standpoint thus paramedics must tailor them to every given
The Lewis Blackman Case: Ethics, Law, and Implications for the Future Medical errors in decision making that result in harm or death are tragic and costly to the families affected. There are also negative impacts to the medical providers and the associated institutions (Wu, 2000). Patient safety is a cornerstone of higher-quality health care and nurses serve as a communication link in all settings which is critical in surveillance and coordination to reduce adverse outcomes (Mitchell, 2008). The Lewis Blackman Case 1 of 1 point accrued
My colleague and I received an emergency call to reports of a female on the ground. Once on scene an intoxicated male stated that his wife is under investigation for “passing out episodes”. She was lying supine on the kitchen floor and did not respond to A.V.P.U. I measured and inserted a nasopharyngeal airway which was initially accepted by my patient. She then regained consciousness and stated, “Oh it’s happened again has it?” I removed the airway and asked my colleague to complete base line observations and ECG which were all within the normal range. During history taking my patient stated that she did not wish to travel to hospital. However each time my patient stood up she collapsed and we would have to intervene to protect her safety and dignity, whilst also trying to ascertain what was going on. During the unresponsive episodes we returned the patient to the stretcher where she spontaneously recovered and refused hospital treatment. I completed my patient report form to reflect the patient's decision and highlighted my concerns. The patient’s intoxicated husband then carried his wife back into the house.
There are legal requirements and policy to govern specific areas of health care practise. It differentiates nurse responsibilities, help establish boundaries of independent nursing action and assists in maintaining a standard to ma...
Understanding standard of care and its role it can play in medical malpractice can be complicated. Health care providers and professionals are constantly at risk of their reputations by providing the care that needs to be upheld in the health care profession. Standard of care is considered a legal term in which medical or health care professionals must up hold to patients. The law has set certain medical standards that are recognized and considered to be acceptable for medical treatment. These standards are known as the standard of care. The standard of care in health care is the nature of care from health care providers and professionals provided to patients that meet a level of care (ABPLA, 2017). Health care providers and professionals are
One instance that comes to mind from several years ago, involves advocating for the parent of a pediatric patient regarding their child’s plan of care. I can recall a seven-year-old patient being brought in by her mother, who happened to be a Spanish speaking, Hispanic woman. The mother had brought the child with complaints of tactile fever off and on for 3 weeks, along with body aches, headaches, and a generalized rash. The mother expressed concerns about the child’s inconsistent recovery. However, under the impression that it was a viral illness, the same provider saw the child on three different occasions. However, on the third visit, the mother, indicated frustration over the persistence of the illness, additionally; indicating that the child was constantly complaining of
Defendants cannot take an excuse in negligence cases that they did not have the requisite skill or knowledge which would have allowed them to take more care, as also explained in the maxim imperitia non exculpatur. The question that arises is that what should be the standard of care that is expected from the defendants. In the majority of cases, the answer to the question is the objective standard of care because the courts usually apply the objective
In the medical field, there are often situations in which a physician will feel the need to take immediate action to save a patient. However, due to the high risk of lawsuit, physicians should put their instinct aside and not engage in any treatments that were not approved on the patient 's consent form.