Essay On Malpractice
Liability Issues
According to Croke (2006), the legal term malpractice refers to the act of negligence by that of the licensed nursing professional. A nurse who fails to provide reasonable prudent care in which a careful practicing nurse would under the same circumstance is considered negligent. Malpractice occurs when an action is improper or unethical and results in the allowance of damages.
There are specific legal elements that must be present in order for the nurse to be found liable in a malpractice lawsuit. In order for the plaintiff to have a successful case they must be able to prove the following legal elements: duty-nurse-patient relationship; employment relationship, breach of duty-act of omission or commission in standard of care (SOC), foreseeability-foresee a certain …show more content…
Diana Smith was negligent she admits to hearing the pump beep several times and that she notified the patient's primary nurse Jeffery Chambers. Diana Smith enters the patient's room 45 minutes later she pushes some buttons on the pump and the beeping stops. Throughout this time frame Jeffery Chambers the patient's primary nurse is never noted as entering the room or attending to the patient's beeping pump.
Following the above incident Diana Smith responds to the patient's call light and finds that her intravenous access has been dislodged from her vein. At this time the infusion was stopped, site care performed, and the physician was notified. Documentation in the patient's record was indicative of an intravenous site infiltration. Once again there is no evidence that suggest the primary nurse Jeffery Chambers entered the patient's room to attend to the infiltration. Based on the doctrine of respondeat superior law Caring Memorial Hospital has vicarious liability for its employees.
Defenses of
According to Croke (2006), the legal term malpractice refers to the act of negligence by that of the licensed nursing professional. A nurse who fails to provide reasonable prudent care in which a careful practicing nurse would under the same circumstance is considered negligent. Malpractice occurs when an action is improper or unethical and results in the allowance of damages.
There are specific legal elements that must be present in order for the nurse to be found liable in a malpractice lawsuit. In order for the plaintiff to have a successful case they must be able to prove the following legal elements: duty-nurse-patient relationship; employment relationship, breach of duty-act of omission or commission in standard of care (SOC), foreseeability-foresee a certain …show more content…
Diana Smith was negligent she admits to hearing the pump beep several times and that she notified the patient's primary nurse Jeffery Chambers. Diana Smith enters the patient's room 45 minutes later she pushes some buttons on the pump and the beeping stops. Throughout this time frame Jeffery Chambers the patient's primary nurse is never noted as entering the room or attending to the patient's beeping pump.
Following the above incident Diana Smith responds to the patient's call light and finds that her intravenous access has been dislodged from her vein. At this time the infusion was stopped, site care performed, and the physician was notified. Documentation in the patient's record was indicative of an intravenous site infiltration. Once again there is no evidence that suggest the primary nurse Jeffery Chambers entered the patient's room to attend to the infiltration. Based on the doctrine of respondeat superior law Caring Memorial Hospital has vicarious liability for its employees.
Defenses of