Essay on Negligence in Nursing: The Legal Aspects

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.

First, it is very essential for the nurses to know the difference between law and ethics. Ethics observes the values and actions of people. On the other hand, laws are necessary rules of conduct. When laws are broken down, it is

Nursing is not an easy job and those who chose it as their profession are truly special people. Nurses are confronted with ethical decisions that need to be made on a daily basis. Often they know the right thing to do but because of circumstances like institutional structure and conflicts with others, obstacles are created and distress ensues (Jenner, 2001). It is during times like these that nurses must rely on the training that they have received as well as the code of ethics that has been set down for their profession in order to do the right thing.

I would say the majority of issues I have seen relate to nurses feeling their patient load was too much which may possibly result in unsafe patient care. This typically relates directly to staffing issues.

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” Nursing is more than just doing assessments and giving medications; it is going beyond that to know what is right or wrong, what can and cannot be done, and what is considered harming the patients rather than doing them good. In nursing, there is a fine line between what is considered to be negligence and beneficence. According to Marquis (2017), “Ethics is the systemic study of what a person’s conduct and actions should be with regard to self, others human beings, and the environment (pg. 83), on the other hand, it does not necessarily mean that their

Every health professional has a legal obligation to patients. Nurses as part of the health care team share an important role in the quality and safe delivery of patient care. They have the major responsibility for the development, implementation and continuous practice of policies and procedures of an organisation. It is therefore essential that every organization offer unwavering encouragement and resources to support their staff to perform their duty of care in every patient. On the other hand, high incidences of risk in the health care settings have created great concerns for healthcare organizations. Not only they have effects on patients, but also they project threat to the socioeconomic status. For this reason, it is expected that all health care professionals will engage with all elements of risk management to ensure quality and safe patient delivery. This paper will critically discuss three (3) episodes of care from the case study Health Care Complaints Commission [HCCC] v Jarrett [2013] Nursing and Midwifery Professional Standards Committee of New South Wales [NSWNMPSC] 3 in relation to Registered Nurse’s [RN] role as a leader in the health care team, application of clinical risk management [CRM] in health care domains, accountability in relation to clinical governance [CG], quality improvement and change management practices and the importance of continuing professional development in preparation for transition to the role of RN.

In today 's world, many health care organizations encounter the most critical problem, such as chemically impaired nursing practice, on a daily basis. All areas of the nursing profession are affected by a chemical dependency and the cost associated with this problem is a great concern for the health care organizations. According to Church (2000), “nurse impairment affects the safety of the public, the nurse’s well being and the profession as a whole” (p. 2). The delivery of care provided by the chemically impaired nurse lowers the standards and the prestige of the whole profession, creates serious liability for the employer, lowers productivity, increases the turnover rate, decreases staff members morale, and increases the risk for medication error (Wennerstrom and Rhooda, 1996). People’s lives, function and lifestyle can be dramatically changed due to a medication error caused by a chemically impaired nurse (Cook, 2014). The chief nurse executive (CNE) is frequently confronted with the problem of impaired nurse, furthermore, the CNE is responsible for the policy and decision making involving this issue (Hughes, 1995). The purpose of this paper is to examine nurse executives response to allegations of a chemically impaired nurse.

Balestra, M. (2012). The Best Defense for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners: Understanding the Disciplinary Process. Journal of Nursing Law, 15(2), 39-44. doi:10.1891/1073-7472.15.2.39

Healthcare provider’s perception and judgment in the patient’s well being as well as taking into account the right of the patient in every action is one of the key elements in nursing practice. International Council of Nurses (ICN), (2006) states “The nurse at all times maintains standards of personal conduct which reflect well on the profession and enhance public confidence” (p. 3). Furthermore, nursing action guided by theory and principles of moral and legal

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

Many people do not ponder on the possibility of some form of malpractice or misdiagnosis occurring during their time as patient. They put their trust solely in the healthcare provider. More importantly nurses hardly ever consider being the one that causes harm or the one whom neglects a patient, let alone misdiagnose a patient. When entering the nursing field one needs to look at all options that will help protect them from sustaining any loss. Many nurses in today’s time are purchasing profession liability insurance or more commonly known as professional indemnity. Professional indemnity helps pay for expenses that occur during malpractice, negligence, and misdiagnosis lawsuits.

Further, it is used to protect nurses by identifying inappropriate or unsafe actions that may put the individual nurse, the patient and/or the significant others supporting the patient at risk. Each individual act provides the legal parameters for the practice of professional nursing in that jurisdiction, and has been developed to safeguard the public from care by unqualified practitioners. It is essential that all Nurses are familiar with the Nurse Practice Act in their state of employment and that ethical decisions have legal ramifications. Breaches of the act may result in disciplinary action by supervising nursing staff, reporting to the nursing board and possible deregistration.

A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).

Broadly speaking, malpractice is the failure of a medical professional to fulfill his or her obligation to treat you properly. Unlike other personal injury claims, the juries and judges in malpractice cases must look at the standards set for reasonable medical care. While personal injury cases are based on the responsibilities of a normal person, malpractice cases are based on the responsibilities of a healthcare professional.

Do you believe that you are a victim of medical negligence? Medical negligence includes injury, damage, loss or suffering caused by deliberate or irresponsible actions of a medical practitioner during a medical treatment. This covers any instances where the standard of medical care from your doctors, nurses or other medical staff is deficient or lacking. A subpar standard of care could constitute medical negligence in many forms. It can be misdiagnoses, a botched operation, harmful medical treatment or secondary ailments acquired from reduced safety precautions during a medical treatment. Medical negligence can occur in private medical practices, free healthcare clinics and national hospitals