Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Medication errors by nurses
Medication errors by nurses
Nursing theories or models about patient dignity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Medication errors by nurses
Four Ways You May Have Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice There are many forms of malpractice that you may have been a victim of. Often people think of malpractice as a doctor doing something terribly wrong to a patient, but it is more complex than this. Sometimes a doctor can make an honest mistake. On the other hand, there are many people who work in the medical field that can be liable for malpractice, not just a doctor. Because the law can be difficult to understand, there are medical malpractice lawyers to assist those who have been injured. The following are a few situations that may apply to you or a loved one. A doctor prescribed the wrong treatment This happens all of the time, but you need to understand that by itself, it does no …show more content…
In all of these situations listed here, the doctor was negligent, and this forms the cornerstone of any malpractice lawsuit. Nursing staff is negligent with medication The nursing staff of a hospital is usually the people who deliver the medication to a patient, so obviously they can cause great harm to a person when they administer the wrong medication or the wrong dosage. Although there are safeguards in place at hospitals, patients are still harmed by medication. In some cases, the negligence can lead to death. Negligence with basic hygiene This can be a big issue with long-term hospital stays and is especially prevalent among elderly patients. It is not always the physical harm done to a patient that is the issue, but the dignity of the patient as well. When the nursing staff is not fulfilling their duties in this area, patients can suffer emotional distress. The humiliation that person can feel combined with physical harm is abusive and can constitute
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….
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.
Malpractice is defined as improper, illegal, or negligent behavior that falls below the professional minimum standard of care or service for a patient or a client, when injury or loss has been suffered by patient or client.(Merriam-Webster) Malpractice happens when you turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing in a healthcare setting, also known as omission. Omission is when you fail at doing something that you have a legal obligation to do.(Merriam-Webster) Malpractice essentially has four parts, duty, breach, damages, and causation. (“The 4 Elements of Medical Malpractice”) Duty, what you owe the patient, as a healthcare professional. Breach, what is owed to the patient when they are breached by the responsible party. Damages,
On the other hand, the punitive damages may be unlimited if the malpractice is proven to be done on purpose and full intent (Medical Malpractice,
In the medical field, the workers are highly trained to be able to make a distinction between what is right and what is wrong. Elder abuse is becoming a serious issue in the health environment. As defined in the website, MedicineNet.com, elder abuse is: “the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of an elderly person, usually one who is disabled or frail”. The older population consists of people over sixty-five years old. They are very fragile and sometimes they are forgotten or abused. The elderly can be victims of mistreatment in nursing homes, hospitals, or even in their own house. Nursing is the act of promoting health for others, and of providing care and security with the skills nurses have acquired. However, those who are nursing can also harm, or hurt people by advising them. Elder abuse can take many forms such as financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse.
Negligence and malpractice are terms that many use interchangeably, but the meanings are very different. Healthcare is one practice that has been in existence for centuries whether informally or formally. Since the first birth of any kind, the nurturing and caring of each other man or beast utilized the methods available to restore or maintain life. Since the 19th century, instructional school for nursing was established, streamlining the institution of health care today. In the previous centuries, caring for the sick was not the industry we know today. One did not worry about negligence and malpractice lawsuits, but today one has to be knowledgeable and aware of the implications of both negligence and malpractice in the 20th century practice of healthcare. This paper will explore the difference between negligence, and malpractice, and what one can do as humanly possible, to avoid being the subject of either. It will explore the importance of accurate and adequate documentation and how important it is for nurses to maintain Professional
Dignity and respect for patients is important in adult nursing because without it, it dehumanises them, and creates opportunities for abuse and ill treatment to occur. Lack of dignity and respect can also cause emotional problems for patients, as they are already in a vulnerable state.
For healthcare providers, there is no word that elicits as much frustration, fear and anger as much as the word “malpractice.” Medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient. Medical malpractice is a specific subset of tort law that deals with professional negligence. In order to prove that there was some type of negligence going on you must show that:
Patient safety should be the highest priority when it comes to health care, so why wouldn't the administrators reduce the ratio of nurse to patients to provide maximum patient care? Nurses that have a higher workload of patients are probably more prone to commit a medication error because they may not have the time to do the five checks of medication administration: the right drug, the right dose, the right route, the right time, and the right patient.
Malpractice is failing to meet the standard of care listed in the APA Code of Ethics (Fisher,2017). Malpractice can cause injury to a client which is a direct violation of ethical code 3.04 Avoiding Harm. Examples of malpractice include abandonment of a client, failing to follow the medical model, and practicing techniques without the proper training (Caudill,n.d).
If medical professionals do not know what mistakes they are making, or how to fix them, the mistakes will continue. Nurses need to be aware of harmful medications and adverse effects that some medications have so that patients do not suffer from easily preventable side effects. There are many medications that look alike and sound alike so being conscious and knowing which medications cause confusion can reduce the chances of giving a patient the wrong medication. It is important to make sure the right patient is getting the right dose of the right medication, through the right route at the right time. If the above precautions are not followed precisely the patient could suffer from adverse effects and possible death. Not only is it important for healthcare providers to be educated on the safety of administering medications; patients too need to know the proper ways to administer medications once they are discharged from the hospital. It is important to note that education extends far beyond the classroom. Education can be as simple as informing another nurse of a common mistake they are unknowingly
A great deal of the inquiry undertaken to date in relation to adverse medication events has neglected the impact that nurses have or could have in improving patient safety. Medical errors are mistakes committed while offering treatment to patients. Even more alarming is the increased rate of never events such wrong surgery, procedure and medications. The ignorance of the public to the facts creates an even bigger risk since they cannot prevent the mistakes from happening without the knowledge needed. Strategies have been developed to reduce the numbers of errors as well as educate the public on the existence of the errors with the hope of reducing unnecessary deaths and
Most cases this part is easy to establish cause it’s by a doctor and patient’s relationships which most people have by the doctor already (Bal, 2009). Secondly, is breach of the duty of care in a medical negligence case, this is when the doctor has not followed the standard protocols when it came to the care of the patient, such as surgeries that were not perform properly, surgical tools left in patient, incorrect procedures done, misdiagnoses and etc. Third is causation as an element of medical negligence which they say is the easiest to analyze because you ask yourself simple questions pertaining to your doctors screw up and if it’s a simple no you can prove causation. Lastly, is Damages as an element of medical negligence which where you must prove that the doctor has caused significant harm to you physically, mentally, and financially while compromising the protocols and standards that are supposed to be followed as well. If, all these four elements can be proven, then you have a case to go forward with and 9 times out of a 10 a settlement as well (Matzo,
Many medical malpractice suits would always point out negligence of a physician exhibited during the course of treatment which led to a damage. However, not only the physicians are held liable on these particular situations but also the institution the physician has practiced. It has always been a part of a medical malpractice case to question if a certain institution that a physician works at should be also liable of the damages made. Most of the time, in order to prove that hospitals are also accountable, Doctrine of Apparent Authority is applied.
In the case of Maternity Hospital & Anr. v. Santosh & Anr , National Commmission observed that in case of medical negligence, the liability of a doctor arises not when the patient has suffered any injury, but when the injury has resulted due to the conduct of the doctor, which has fallen below that of reasonable care.