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Cases involving medical malpractice
Essay on malpractice in the medical field
Cases involving medical malpractice
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Medical Malpractice: Sterilization Health care is “the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions” (Farlex Inc.). Health practices and services by health professionals must provide the best attention and safety measures when regarding patients. Patients go in with the thought that the medical staff will provide the best care possible and healthcare professional have a duty to do so. However, a major issue in the healthcare field for many years has been medical malpractice. The word malpractice derives from the Latin phrase "mala praxis" that was created by Sir William Blackstone during 1765 in his “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (Murphy). The first medical malpractice lawsuit in the United States happened in the year 1794, five years following George Washington inauguration (Murphy). Moreover, in the laws of ancient Rome and England, every person who entered into a learned profession assumed to bring to the exercise of a rational degree of care and skill. Nonetheless, there are often times when physicians deter from the rational degree of care and skill, causing malpractice. In the United States, medical malpractice suits first appeared during the 1800s. However, before the 1960s, legal accusations for medical malpractice were uncommon and had little impact. Since then medical malpractice claims have increased and are now very common, which is a major matter of question. Once the patient files a lawsuit, the defendant must deal with the legalities resulting from their deviation of duty. “A sum of 225,000 Americans die each year from all forms of medical malpractice put together and only 2% o... ... middle of paper ... ...hild’s life is wrong” (The Parsons Law Firm). Overall, malpractice cases in the United States are an underlying issue in the healthcare system. When regarding failed sterilization procedures, there is a high burden on both men and women that they must face. The McLaughlin V. Cooke case, Goforth v Porter Medical Associates Inc. case, and John McConkey v. State of Tennessee case all clearly depict how different negligent mistakes from healthcare professional can result in a serious injury towards patients. Legal medical malpractice lawsuits alleviate some of the damages caused, however not enough people seek help after encountering a malpractice case. It is crucial for people to be aware of their rights, so that these “little” mistakes are taken care of. Eventually, the less malpractice cases there are the better healthcare system there is here in the United States.
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….
While working at the OB-GYN department in the hospital, Dr. Vandall, as a Vice Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, learned that another employee of the hospital, Dr. Margaret Nordell was engaged in a level of treatment that was unethical and violated accepted standards of care. It was his duty to the hospital and to the patients, to monitor the competence of his staff members. Although he tried to take the proper steps to deal with it within the hospital, he ended up reporting this to the North Dakota Board of Medical Examiners. It was concluded by the Board that the treatment of Dr. Nordell was gross negligence and they suspended her license to practice medicine.
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
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 compensate victims for any negligence.
McLaren accuses doctors of neglecting women who wanted to abort because of the responsibility that came with the operation. All doctors couldn’t legally perform the operation; other professionals and t...
Wrongful conception is a claim that the conception of a child is due the negligence of medical professionals to prevent said conception through proper sterilization techniques and contraception. This claim is generally not related to the results of whether the child is born healthy or not, but more so, on the claim that had the doctor or pharmacist taken the correct measures to assist in the prevention of conception, the individual would not have gotten pregnant. “As with other types of injury cases, a couple can seek compensation for the cost of the failed procedure, pregnancy costs, pain and suffering, lost wages, and loss of consortium” (Steffen, 2011, http://www.seolawfirm.com/2011/12/wrongful-conception-concerns-raised-when-errors-occur-during-ivf-and-pgd-testing/).
Day by day medical technology is improving, unfortunately so are cases of nursing malpractice. By understanding the laws that governs nursing practice, it will help the nurse protect client’s rights and reduce the risk of nursing liability (Sommer, 2013, p. 23). It’s usually necessary to prove that the nurse was negligent to prove nursing malpractice. The Joint Commission defines negligence as a “failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would under similar circumstances” and malpractice as “improper or unethical conduct or unreasonable lack of skill by a holder of a professional or official position. Sommer defines professional negligence as the failure of a person who has a professional training to act in a reasonable and prudent manner (p. 24).
There are three types of wrongful birth cases (Knudsen, 2011). Firstly, the failure of a sterilization procedure. Secondly, the failure caused by the care provider to inform the parents-to-be of any birth defects or abnormal in their unborn child. Thirdly, the failure of an abortion attempt (Knudsen, 2011). When a plaintiff is making a wrongful birth lawsuit against someone the plaintiff must prove to the court that the health care provider was negligent and should be held responsible for their actions (Knudsen, 2011). The plaintiff must show that the health care provider owed a duty to the plaintiff, the duty was breached, and the plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the breach. Another important key inform...
Explain the issue or dilemma using information from the readings in the book and other sources.
That is the rising number of negligent acts committed by medical professionals. Failure to follow standard of practice is the leading root cause of the troubles involving malpractice. Failure to assess and monitor the patient, failure to communicate, medication errors, negligent delegation or supervision and failure to obtain informed consent from patients are the top failures leading to malpractice. The American Nurses Association provides scopes and standards that if followed could prevent many of the negligent acts. Duty, Breach of Duty, Foreseeability, Causation, Injury, Damages must be proven for a nurse to be held
Rising health care costs have caused a national crisis, and all agree we must embrace reform. President Obama has initiated his national health care plan in the hopes of decreasing some of the inflated costs. When attempting to resolve this issue, one must always address the root of the problem. A large portion of these inflationary costs stem from malpractice lawsuits, and so begins the debate for tort reform: legislation which would cut the costs of health care by reducing the risk of civil litigation and exposure to fraudulent claims (“What”). However, the real factor at hand and the real cause of the industry’s high costs does not come solely from the cost incurred from these lawsuits, but from over-expenditures on the part of doctors, who over-test and over-analyze so as to safeguard themselves from the threat of malpractice lawsuits. Thus, large public support exists for tort reform. While the proposed legislation enacted through tort reform could cut the costs of health care and positively transform the industry, it is ultimately unconstitutional and could not withstand judicial scrutiny.
“Almost half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended [and of those pregnancies about] 1.3 billion each year, are ended by abortion.” (Dudley). Most women that receive an abortion are clueless of the type of health risk that are associated with the abortion. According to the American Nurses Associated, “Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what [would] be done with their own person; to be given accurate, complete and understandable information in a manner that facilitates and informed judgement” (Barnes) Meaning, before given treatment the patient must be informed of some of the risks that are involved. They should be given all of the facts related to their situation in order to make an informed decision. Informing the patient of the risks associated with the procedure is done before every operation, or most operations. Women who have abortions are not informed of...
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.
“Is There Personal Responsibility In Healthcare?” Medical Malprocess. 4 March, 2009. Web.19 April, 2014. < http://thesystemmd.com/?p=230 >
Medical Jurisprudence (juris= law, prudentia= knowledge) deals with the legal responsibilities of the physician with particular reference to those arising from physician-patient relationship; such as Rights and duties of doctors, Medical Negligence cases, Consent, Professional Misconduct, Medical Ethics, etc. In brief, it implies the legal aspects of practice of medicine.