Errors in Medicine 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, …show more content…
For hundreds of years doctors and other medical professionals have gotten away with little to no punishment when doing wrong in the medical field. Medical Malpractice happens in the care of the reckless medical professional and can be stopped by the correct supervision and discipline. Although medical malpractice is something huge, it could be eliminated by just taking a little extra time and review the care that is being given to a patient. Would you allow someone to give the care you’re giving to others, to your own family? You need the bed, so you discharge early. Patients aren’t properly informed. Legal documents aren’t thoroughly explained. Shortage of staff, hospital downsizing, or mergers. (“Nursing Center”) The only thing that the medical team should be worried about it the care of all of the patients. The medical field would become more advanced if the actual medicine was practiced the right way. Lives are being compromised everyday with incompetent doctors, practicing medicine. Medical Malpractice can be solved with the buckling down of the medical professionals, and the administration that watch over these professionals. Medicine is a complicated field, where lives, money, and careers are put on the line for such an important matter. Together, we can lessen, even eliminate Medical Malpractice all
Explain the issue or dilemma using information from the readings in the book and other sources.
Not only do health care providers have an ethical implication to care for patients, they also have a legal obligation and responsibility to care for the patient. According to the Collins English dictionary, a duty of care is ‘the legal obligation to safeguard others from harm while they are in your care, using your services or exposed to your activities’. The legal definition takes it further by making it a requirement that a person act towards others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence which a reasonable person in the circumstances would use. If a person’s actions fail to meet the required standard, then the acts are considered negligent (Hill and Hill, 2002). If a professional fails to abide to the standard of practice for their practice in regards to their peers, they leave themselves open to criticisms or claims of breach of duty of care, and possibly negligence. Negligence is comprised of five elements: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) cause in fact, (4) proximate cause, and (5) harm. Duty is defined as the implied duty to care/provide service, breach is the lack thereof, cause in fact must be proven by plaintiff, proximate cause means that only the harm caused directly causative to the breach itself and not additional causation, and harm is the specific injury resultant from the breach.
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.
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 is a widespread assumption that only physicians can be found guilty of medical malpractice. However, nurses are now required to have malpractice insurance, as well. The Cambridge Dictionary defines malpractice as “the failure of a doctor or other professional to do his or her job with a reasonable degree of skill, esp. when that person’s actions or failure to act causes injury or loss” (n.d., def. 1). There are some lawsuit-happy people in today’s society that seek lofty payments for malpractice claims, on the other hand, a vast amount of malpractice lawsuits are justifiable.
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or healthcare medical professional makes a mistake that causes serious injury, physical or mental harm or death. Legally, it is considered medical malpractice when a doctor fails to comply with a reasonable standard of care. It is a form of negligence that applies to those in the medical profession. Tragically, a doctor’s mistake can have severe, or even deadly, consequences for trusting patients and their families.
Klein, C. A. (2002). Surveying the malpractice terrain. Nurse Practitioner, 27(11), 62. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
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...
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….
“Nursing Accidents Unleash Silent Killers”, according to the article titled “A Wake-up Call” (Marilyn S. Fetter 2011). Mistakes or errors implemented by nurses nationwide not only kill, but injure thousands. This perception of practicing nurses continuously causing errors and mistakes can be changed and something can be done about it. However, rare cases of nursing malpractice are still on the rise. Malpractice is a serious case in which it can be avoided completely by a skilled nurse who follows standards and safety precautions to accurately and correctly care for each and every patient.
Medical errors have been plaguing our country for decades. The first time that doctors acknowledged that medical mistakes could lead to death and injury was during the 1950’s. No action is taken at this time to improve hospitals, and
Medical errors and malpractice is becoming a major problem in America.There are approximately 15,000-19,000 lawsuits against doctors yearly.(medicalnewstoday.com) There are many reason behind why this is such a problem. I will be touching on each reason and why each of them has become a problem. This is not just something that affects doctors, all medical personnel are responsible for patient care. When we think of medical malpractice the first thing we think of is a doctor who has caused physical harm to a patient.This is not the only example the harm can be physical or mental and it also affects physician assistants, nurses, psychiatrist,dentist, therapists, optometrist, and pharmacist. Medical errors and malpractice are in my opinion not
When the doctor or hospital made an error or some type of omission during a medical procedure, consultation, diagnosis, surgery or other types of healthcare, they commit a Medical malpractice. Although it can be stated that the doctors are negligent in performing their duty, it is not a mere negligence. Medical professionals are usually held to higher standards of performance according to the local customary practices and training. Medical professionals can be held liable of the medical malpractice, if they provide medical services below the accepted standards, which, in its turn, leads to severe injuries or even death of the patient. In addition, the wronged patient has to prove that the result of the medical care or surgical intervention was not foreseeable or necessary.
Medical Doctors have a vast amount of duties and responsibilities they must perform daily in order to ensure a superlative level of care for all patients. Commitment to professional competence is an essential part of physician responsibility. Physicians must be committed to lifelong learning, and be able to adapt and maintain medical knowledge, and clinical and team skills. More broadly, the profession as a whole must progress to the point that all practicing medicine will be competent and have the mechanisms available to accomplish this goal. Commitment to honesty with patients is another essential role of all physicians. Physicians must make sure that patients are completely and honestly informed before the treatment and after it has occurred. This means that patients should not be involved in every minute decisions regarding their medical care, but be supported to decide on the course of therapy. Whenever patients are injured as a result of medical care, patients should be notified rapidly, because failure to report this could seriously compromise patient and societal trust. Reporting and analyzing medical mal-practice provides the basis for appropriate prevention and improveme...
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error.