Failure to Monitor When evaluating medical malpractice, this can be performed by any healthcare professional. It is easy to classify this to be misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, even not taking the time to evaluate a patient properly. When practicing medicine it is important that all measures be taken when a patient is showing signs of infection or having any adverse reaction to medication. In the case study below this is a prime example of the importance of checking patient progression. Case background As this case study is evaluated we look at who is involved. This case involves a 44 year old patient this is the plaintiff in this case. The issue began when the patient noticed bumps on his wrist; one may think that this …show more content…
One important fact in this case is medication that the physician administered to the patient is not listed in the case study. All information must be documented, this helps to keep track in the event the patient gets a reaction this is significant information that must be recorded. Although this may be unimportant to the case this should still be listed. As this patient condition worsened he was diagnosed with osteomyelitis. As mentioned above knowing all medications being administered are important, when treatment first began the pharmacist in this case did exceptionally well keeping track of the medications being administered. Another important factor is that the pharmacist kept track of the care being provided to the patient because the pharmacist reviewed patient results he was able to make suggestions to the physician to check the patients creatinine levels. However the pharmacist in the case is the defendant. Although the pharmacist did well in reviewing the patient’s information during most of the treatment, he did fail to do a follow up check. The …show more content…
One must evaluate all parties involved. It can be argued that do to the lack of documentation or communication of the physician this was an act of negligence. A jury can decide that lack of documentation is sufficient evidence in finding a physician guilty of negligence (Pozgar, 2009). When we look at the role of the defendant which was the pharmacist not the physician his duty goes above just filling prescriptions, the duty of a pharmacist is to monitor the patient’s medication. In order for him to have achieved this properly he should have made sure he contacted the physician for further information even if the physician failed to communicate with him. Because of his actions the plaintiff is holding the pharmacist accountable for his treatment and that is not where all of the blame should be consumed. The argument that can be made for the pharmacist is that the pharmacist acted within his scope of practice and left everything to the physician. This situation can easily be construed as, if the physician needed further medications or if there were any adverse reaction then he would have contacted the pharmacist. Once again the prosecutor may argue that the pharmacist had a duty to follow up on any treatment that he provided to a patient. These arguments would be the most persuasive. These are the key elements in determining the case being argued. For example the pharmacist not following up with the patient’s physician may be
Adae Cynthia’s husband telephoned Dr. Avera about Cynthia’s hospitalization and relayed that she was suffering from continuing pain. Upon Dr. Avera's recommendation that he should transport his wife to the Middletown Regional Hospital emergency room, where Cynthia was seen by Tao Nguyen, M.D. They started by giving Cynthia a CT scan of her chest and head, which ended up being negative result for pulmonary embolism but it did reveal a sinus infection. Dr. Nguyen requested copies of her medical records from Clinton memorial hospital but Clinton’s record department was closed for the weekend. Dr. Nguyen discussed Cynthia’s case with Dr. Avera and instructed her to follow up with Dr. Avera on Monday, July 3. She was discharged with a prescription for pain medication. On the same day laboratory reported to a resident on duty that Cynthia’s blood cultures were showing gram positive cocci in clusters. The next day the laboratory reported to Dr.Pesante the Cynthia’s blood cultures were positive for staphylococcus aureus. Neither the resident on duty nor Dr. Pesante contacted Dr. Bain or the attending physician on-call about Cynthia’s blood culture results. The trial court found it unclear whether any Clinton memorial hospital employee attempted to contact appellees or Dr. Avera. Dr. Avera said if he would have learned of the positive blood culture she would have admitted her immediately to hospital and would have empirically started her on antibiotics and then
The two of the six rights of medication administration that were violated where the right medication, the right dosage, and the right client. The nurse failed to read the medication order three times before administering the medication, failed to scan for the right count of the medication, and as well failed to match the patient ID with the scanned
...health of a patient and a follow up check at the GP’s may be required.
In the plaintiff’s suit, he alleged the surgery did not go well because the hospital had hired a surgeon, who was not competent or qualified enough to perform the surgery therefore; the hospital was just as negligent as the doctor was. Before the trial date, Dr. Salinsky and his insurance company, Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin, settled with plantiff out of court on the basis they will be released from the suit upon payment of $140,000 (Johnson v. Misericordia Community Hospital). Although, Salinsky settled with plaintiff prior to trial, there was still “question of whether he was negligent in the manner in which he performed the operation on July 11, 1975, remained an issue at trial, as it was incumbent upon the plaintiff to prove that Salinsky was negligent in this respect to establish a
Ohio Dep’t of Rehabilitation & Correction are the poor-quality patient care that Tomcik received and Tomcik’s health being at risk. Once engaged in a doctor-patient relationship, physicians are obligated to provide the best possible care for the patient by utilizing their skills and knowledge as expected from a competent physician under the same or similar conditions (“What Is a Doctor’s Duty of Care?” n.d.). However, in Tomcik’s situation, Dr. Evans did not deliver high-quality care, for he administered a perfunctory breast examination and thus did not follow standard protocols. There is evidence of indifference conveyed by Dr. Evans, and the lack of proper care towards Tomcik is an issue that can be scrutinized and judged appropriately. Additionally, Tomcik’s health was at risk due to the failure of a proper physical evaluation and the incredibly long delay in diagnosis and treatment. The negligence from Dr. Evans, along with the lack of medical attention sought out by Tomcik after she had first discovered the lump in her breast, may contribute to Tomcik’s life being in danger as well as the emotional anguish she may have felt during that time period. Overall, the incident of Tomcik’s expectations from the original physician and other employees at the institution not being met is an ethical issue that should be dealt with
The case study is about a 64-year-old man, Mr. Londborg with a history of seizure, who was admitted to the hospital due to difficulty breathing. The patient has hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). During his visit in the emergency room, he acquired an infection and his routine blood work shows elevated creatinine, which can indicate kidney problems. The client’s problem with breathing and his kidney was resolved. Although, the overseeing physician did not prescribe a prophylaxis for DVT, know that the patient will be in bed and not moving. Unfortunately, the patient got a blood clot; it was treated, but it made Mr. Londborg stays in the hospital longer than usual. In addition, the patient takes a few medications for seizure, but during his hospital stay the nurse was not able to administer one of them because it was not available. The nurse did not notify the doctor or the pharmacy regarding the missed seizure medication. The patient was found unconscious on the floor by the hospital housekeeper. Mr.
The staff believed the patient’s altered behavior was due to the possible drug withdrawals. While the symptoms are similar, there are distinct differences between hypovolemic shock- secondary to blood loss, and acute opiate withdrawals. With a thorough exam, the staff should have been able to recognize this difference. The Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale, (Wesson, D. R., & Ling, W., 2003) would have been the proper objective measurement tool to be able accurately, assess the patient. Another breach of duty was not getting the CT scan down in an appropriate amount of time. The physician had a high index of suspicion that the patient was bleeding internally, yet the CT was not completed until the following morning. Lastly, the patient admitted to a substance abuse problem, yet a drug screen was not ordered. If it had been, they would have seen there were no opiates in his system and he was positive for alcohol and benzodiazepines.
Medical error occurs more than most people realize and when a doctor is found negligent the patient has the right to sue for compensation of their losses. Debates and issues arise when malpractice lawsuits are claimed. If a patient is filing for a medical malpractice case, the l...
Green committed negligence when she administered the incorrect dosage to her patient. Dr. Green could have avoided this mistake from occurring if she had followed administering medication strategies. For example, healthcare providers should follow the basic check list and double check their check list for right medication, person, dose, route, time, and documentation (Washington Advocates for Patient Safety, 2016). Being that Dr. green did not verify her work, she caused Mr. Parker to take ten pills per day for three weeks. Also, Dr. Green did not instruct Mr. Parker if he was feeling any of the side effects or continuation of the signs and symptoms to feel free to go to the nearest emergency room, stop taking the medications, and/or to come back to the office to be seen
As the lead prosecutor, the first fact that I would convey to my investigators is that the system was broken. Shipman was fired from the Todmorden Medical Center for forging prescriptions in order to support his addiction to pain medicine. He should have lost his medical license from the General Medical Council (GMC) and that would kept him from being able to practice ever again (Batty, 2005). Instead, the GMC only sent him a stern letter denouncing his actions, but allowed him to continue to practice medicine once he completed rehabilitation. As a result of the negligence of the GMC, anyone who ever looked into Shipman’s medical history, his forgery and addiction would not have been revealed by the GMC. Shipman resumed his medical profession in Hyde, England in which his patient’s high death rate came into question. The police failed to properly investigate the coroner’s concerns by not even running a criminal history on Shipman, which could have revealed his
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
Medical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice as a result of delaying a procedure is the case of Waverly family versus John Hopkins Health System Corporation. The victims were not compensated enough for the loss of their child’s normal life. Pozgar (2012) explained….
The Plaintiffs of the case are Glynace H. Norton and his wife, Anne Graves Norton, The defendants of the case are the insurer of the Baton Rouge hospital: Argonaut Insurance Company, Mrs. Florence Evans R.N,,ADON (Registered Nurse/Assistant Director of Nursing services) whom had administered the fatal medication; and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, that covered the liability insurance for Dr. John B. Stotler, who delivered the negligent order.
Something obviously went wrong and is being investigated. A woman in her early 40's came in for a minor day surgery. The surgery went well, but the doctor had to leave early and hands the patient to the care of the highest administrative on duty, being a charge nurse and emergency care doctor. The patient needed an extra surgical procedure on the parathyroid as well as a thyroid because of unforeseen tumors. Clear instructions were left by the doctor to reanalyze blood before the patient was to discharge to check for the calcium. If the calcium was not steadily rising, then the patient was not to be discharged but kept in-patient until he could see the patient the next day. The charge nurse busy with over 60 other patients asked the nurse to order the labs. Though ordered, labs were not administered. When the emergency care doctor came to discharge the patient he assumed the last lab given results for were accurate and steadily rising because they were done the same day and approved the patient's release. The charge nurse overwhelmed with work and exhausted and without lunch, signed for the patient's release and did not ask the nurse to verify the latest labs. As a result, the patient was
Most medical errors come from human errors. Before defining medical error, we should have a good understanding of human error. As a human in our everyday life we are prone to make mistakes such as using ointment...