The ethical and legal dilemmas involved in this case are surrounding the competency of hospital physician s and staff. The emergency room physician failed to consult an orthopedic surgeon regarding the initial fractures and again after the patient complained of pain and the cast was split. The nursing staff didn’t question the emergency physician. The nursing staff and physician failed to notice signs of gangrene and decaying tissue.
Ethically, the principle of nonmaleficence comes to mind. “Nonmaleficence is an ethical principle that requires caregivers to avoid causing patients harm (to do no harm)” (Pozgar, 2013, p. 13). Knowingly, this physician and staff caused harm to this patient when they failed to consult an expert in the field. The ethical dilemma set the situation up for legal dilemmas involving negligence and malpractice.
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“Negligence is a form of conduct caused by heedlessness or carelessness that constitutes a departure from the standard of care generally imposed on reasonable members of society” (Pozgar, 2013, p. 195). The carelessness of the physician and staff resulted in poor conduct which can be described as malpractice. “Malpractice is the negligence or carelessness of a professional person (e.g., a nurse, pharmacist, physician, or accountant) (Pozgar, 2013, p. 195).
The hospital failed in its ethical duty to the patient via corporate negligence. The hospital, as a corporation, has duties that it owes the public and patients. “These duties arise from statutes, regulations, principles of law developed by the courts, and the internal operating rules of the organization” (Pozgar, 2013, p. 274). The hospital failed to perform this duty, so they are just as liable as an isolated staff
Negligence is the failure to do something. Many medical cases are filed as medical malpractice suits, “medical malpractice is professional misconduct. Malpractice differs from negligence because it is performed by a license medical professional” (Flight 2). The case of Horton V. Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center can be used as a primary example where negligence, “failure to take reasonable precautions to protect others from the risk of harm” (Flight 33), is visible.
The hospital and physician were both found to be negligent. Elements of negligence are (injuryclaimcoach, 2017):
It would certainly be standard care to watch extremities for lack of circulation yet this was not done. When cutting the cast not only did the Dr. cut him the first time but then to continue without any precautions and cut the other side too is certainly misconduct. While reading other court documents in this case it was also stated that because of the swelling of the leg, the cast should not have been put on until some of the swelling went down. Dr. Alexander didn't take this in to account either. Clearly an expertise should have been called in for this
University Hospital is a well known hospital with a level 1 trauma treatment center for the tri-county area of a northwestern state, the hospital enjoys the fact they are known for their promising reputation among healthcare professionals and the public they serve. Jan Adams is an OR supervisor that has been working there for ten years, as a professional she makes surgeons follow protocol as required and enjoys working with trauma patients. One Friday night, which is the busiest day of the week for the trauma department; the unit was notified that a helicopter was on its way with a 42 year old man who had been in a car accident. Shortly after the patient arrived to the trauma center, the resident and other medical staff noted that he was in very bad physical conditions, needed immediate surgery or otherwise he was going to die. The issue was that the on call surgeon had to be present during the surgery and had not yet arrived, but regardless of the matter and protocol they proceeded with medically treating the patient immediately. The concern is that in doing so they violated medical procedures and put the patients safety at risk, this lead to a long list of ethical issues for example, patient well-being, impaired healthcare professional, adherence to professional codes of ethical conduct, adherence to the organization’s mission statement, ethical standards, and values statements, management’s role and responsibility, failure
The consequences of medical malpractice can be devastating: paralysis, brain damage, cognitive deficits, loss of limbs, organ failure, permanent disabilities, and death are some of the outcomes.
Events surround a recent total knee replacement surgical case performed by Dr. Smith may place the institution at risk for multiple tort claims. These claims involve the violation of operating room procedures and protocols, a post-operative medication errors, and an incident concerning the interaction between a member of the nursing staff and the patient.
One of the most critical factors which contribute to the number of preventable cases of healthcare harm is the culture of silence surrounding these cases. The fear of medical providers to report incidences is related to the possibility of punishment and liability due to a medical error (Discovery, 2010). The criminalization of some acts of medical error has resulted in job dismissal, criminal charges and jail time for some healthcare workers. This is despite the fact that the system they are working in helped to create the situation which led to the error in the first place. Human error, due to fatigue and system errors can result in deadly consequences, but by criminalizing the error it effectively shuts down the ability to correct the root problem. Healthcare workers, working at all levels within the medical system, can provide valuable input on how to improve the processes and prevent harm from occurring (Discovery, 2010).
In other words, carelessness or unintentionally commissioned act that a reasonable person would do under the same circumstances. For instance, a patient goes to the emergency room with chest pain, but the doctor fails to diagnose the condition and sends the patient home. As a result, the patient later suffers a massive heart attack. In this example, the doctor did not intent to cause harm, however, he or she did fail to exercise a reasonable level of care to properly make a correct diagnose. Furthermore, it would be very difficult to prove the doctor acted negligently, but injury and cause can be proven in this case. Malpractice and negligence fall under the same umbrella, which makes it synonymous and difficult to comprehend; accordingly, many lawsuits are filed to encompass both
In the Code of Ethics for Nurses provision 4 states “The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.” This was not done, there was no regard for human life. The patients in the hospital were treated as a burden. A meeting was held where the doctors agreed that
A second issue is malpractice. Malpractice issues are always present in an unstable environment where patients will seek to remedy an incident if they feel they have been harmed (Hamric, 2009). It is important to always act in a reasonable way as a health care clinician but unfortunately there are always those who are negligent in their actions as practitioners.
This can be read as a key ethical question to many healthcare case studies because of the errors and situations that occur. One of the explanations for this occurrence may be the overwhelming workload, chaotic environment and lack of individual attention prescribed to each patient. These issues can cause a disruption to the ethical principle of Beneficence. The principle of Beneficence calls to action the act of helping others and having compassion for the patients. This principle can be threatened when a doctor or caretaker is overworked and unable to effectively manage the series of patients and work they are assigned to take on. I believe that the admitting doctor did not initially catch the error of not calling for the specific drug need because he was more focused on getting Mr. Londborg stable and on the medication to treat his initial and present condition before worrying about the preventative medication. In addition, the doctor was so focused on helping everyone all at once that he was blind to the small details and loose ends that needed to be taken care
Medical malpractice happens when a hospital, doctor or other health care professional, perform negligence through their practice and causes an injury to a patient, it may be the result of mistakes in diagnosis, management and after care or health management. (Podgers, 2007)
The negligence of this incident had a negative impact on the patient’s family members. Approximately 25% of cases involving medical negligence involve poor nursing care. Another negative aspect was patient’s family follow up was poor resulting in lack of importance highlighted on the pressure wounds. Ashley (2003) states nurses can be sued for malpractice, this means he or she is being sued for “negligence”. Furthermore, the nursing health professionals can lose its credibility among a community as they failed to provide a holistic care for the patient. However, a positive outcome was nurses were able to reflect among this evidence based practice to assist in better quality in patient
Every one of us has relied on a medical professional at least a few times in our lives. When we get seriously ill, or suffer a serious injury, we put our health in the hands of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, fully expecting to be treated with a certain degree of professionalism and safety. Unfortunately, sometimes the expected care is not given, or not given to the extent which the ailment requires. In these situations, we can feel blindsided, confused, even taken advantage of.
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