Legal Aspects in Nursing Order Instructions: This paper is part of some other papers that you guys have already written for me such as 111549. Hear the writer will be working on building a case and so he will have to discuss some legal steps to hear.
The writer should first in one paragraph elaborate on the legal components of this case below which is “informed consent and risk versus benefit” and then he will go ahead and use the point listed below as subheadings and them respond to them in detail citing court cases and using peer review articles to supports the facts.
In one paragraph discuss the legal components of this case below which is “informed consent and risk versus benefit”. Also Base on the Case Study 1: Malpractice Action brought by Yolanda Pinnelas, construct a 2 page paper about the legal constructs involved in the cases. Support the paper with peer-reviewed articles and case law where applicable. You may have an appendix that has samples of documents that support your positions or expands on the facts of the case. The paper should discuss the following issues. Discuss the following 3 points using each point as a subheading for the paper.
– Standards of care
– Duty, breach, damages and proximate cause
– Preparation for the court of the parties
Case Study 1: Malpractice Action Brought by Yolanda Pinnelas People Involved in Case: Yolanda Pinnelas-patient Betty DePalma, RN, MS-nursing supervisor Elizabeth Adelman, RN, recovery room nurse William Brady, M.D., plastic surgeon Mary Jones, RN-IV insertion Carol Price, LPN Jeffery Chambers, RN-staff nurse Patricia Peters, PharmD-pharmacy Diana Smith, RN Susan Post, JD-Risk Manager Amy Green-Quality Assurance Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS-Education coordinator SAFE-INFUSE-pump Brand X infusion pump Caring Memorial Hospital
Facts: The patient, Yolanda Pinellas is a 21-year-old female admitted to Caring Memorial Hospital for chemotherapy. Caring Memorial is a hospital in Upstate New York. Yolanda was a student at Ithaca College and studying to be a music conductor. Yolanda was diagnosed with anal cancer and was to receive Mitomycin for her chemotherapy. Mary Jones, RN inserted the IV on the day shift around 1300, and the patient, Yolanda, was to have Mitomycin administered through the IV. An infusion machine was used for the delivery. The Mitomycin was hung by Jeffrey Chambers, RN and he was assigned to Yolanda. The unit had several very sick patients and was short staffed. Jeffery had worked a double shift the day before and had to double back to cover the evening shift. He was able to go home between shift and had about 6 hours of sleep before returning. The pharmacy was late in delivering the drug so it was not hung until the evening shift. Patricia Peters, PharmD brought the chemotherapy to the unit. On the evening shift, Carol Price, LPN heard the infusion pump beep several times. She had ignored it as she thought someone else was caring for the patient. Diana Smith, RN was also working the shift and had heard the pump beep several times. She mentioned it to Jeffery. She did not go into the room until about forty-five minutes later. The patient testified that a nurse came in and pressed some buttons and the pump stopped beeping. She was groggy and not sure who the nurse was or what was done. Diana Smith responded to the patient’s call bell and found the IV had dislodged for the patient’s vein. There was no evidence that the Mitomycin had gone into the patient’s tissue. Diana immediately stopped the IV, notified the physician, and provided care to the hand. The documentation in the medical record indicates that there was an infiltration to the IV. The hospital was testing a new IV Infusion pump called SAFE-INFUSE. The supervisory nurse was Betty DePalma, RN. Betty took the pump off the unit. No one made note of the pump’s serial number as there were 6 in the hospital being used. There was also another brand of pumps being used in the hospital. It was called Brand X infusion pump. Betty did not note the name of the pump or serial number. The pump was not isolated or sent to maintenance and eventually the hospital decided not to use SAFE-INFUSE so the loaners were sent back to the company. Betty and Dr. William Brady are the only ones that carry malpractice insurance. The hospital also has malpractice insurance. Two weeks after the event, the patient developed necrosis of the hand and required multiple surgical procedures, skin grafting, and reconstruction. She had permanent loss of function and deformity in her third, fourth, and fifth fingers. The Claimant is alleging that, because of this, she is no longer able to perform as a conductor, for which she was studying. During the procedure for the skin grafting, the plastic surgeon, Dr. William Brady, used a dermatome that resulted in uneven harvesting of tissue and further scarring in the patient’s thigh area where the skin was harvested. The Risk Manger is Susan Post, J.D. who works in collaboration with the Quality Assurance director Amy Green. Amy had noted when doing chart reviews over the last three months prior to this incident that there were issues of short staffing and that many nurses were working double shifts, evenings and nights then coming back and working the evening shift. She was in the process of collecting data from the different units on this observation. She also noted a pattern of using float nurses to several units. Prior to this incident the clinical nurse specialist, Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS, was consulting with Susan Post and Amy Green about the status of staff education on this unit and what types of resources and training was needed.
Legal Aspects in Nursing Sample Answer
Legal Aspects
Introduction
In their practice, nurses encounter various ethical and legal aspects that may implicate them in legal tussles. When new treatments are used, issues of informed consent to treatment and balancing between benefits and risks tend to be challenge in resolving them. Understanding aspects concerning informed consent is, therefore, important as patients are assisted on how to ask questions and to understand the information they need to fully and truly be aware of the treatment choices available to them (Moffett & Moore, 2011). Similarly, assessing aspects to do with benefits and risks of any experiment treatment option is critical for long term health of the patients. This paper, therefore, deliberates on the various aspects relating to informed consent and risks versus benefits as well as legal constructs involved. The paper adopts a case study on Malpractice action brought by Yolanda Pinellas.
Standard of care
Under the law, any individual under the duty of care is required to have a degree of prudence and caution when undertaking their duties. Nurses and any clinical officers are under duty of care to provide medical treatment based on the scientific evidence and to collaborate with other medics involved in the treatment of any health condition (Moffett & Moore, 2011). Practitioners have a duty to inform the patient about any fiduciary interests or material risks of the physician that may make the patient to reconsider the procedure (Moses & Feld, 2008). Failure to do this means that the physicians will be liable for any risks that the client or patient may suffer. In the case of Yolanda’s, the medical practitioners attending to her failed to inform her about the dangers inherent in using Mitomycin in her chemotherapy. Furthermore, the medical officer failed to inform her that the hospital was testing a new IV infusion pump by the name SAFE-INFUSE. This was, therefore, a mistake on the side of the medics and the ordeals and sufferings that Yolanda went through were as a result of lack of informed consent. This caused her to be exposed to the risks. The medics are, therefore, liable for breaching the standard of duty.
Duty, breach, damages and proximate cause
Duty, which is the obligation of one person to another, is something that unifies a society. In medical field, the nurses have a duty to provide quality care to the patients’ failure to which it amounts to negligence (Owen, 2007). Breach is another element of negligence and misconduct such as omission and improper act towards another person. Proximate cause ensures that there is logical act and fairness in judgment. A defendant in proximate cause is liable for failing to foresee a problem or harm in his or her course (Find Law, 2014). Damage, on the other hand, is when the defendant fails to take necessary precautions leading to harm on the patient or plaintiff. In this case, of Yolanda, it is evident that there was breach of duty, damage and proximate course. The medical practitioners had a duty to ensure that Yolanda is well treated and always check the progress of the medication something that the hospital failed. They did not mind checking the beeping sound; they also failed to record the serial number of the pump. They knew that they were carrying out an experiment of the safe-infuse PUMP but went ahead to use it on Yolanda. They also knew that the nurses were not enough and lacked enough training and went ahead to admit the patient. Therefore, they could have avoided all these mistakes and taken their responsibility to provide quality care these problems could not have occurred.
Preparation for court of the parties
Yolanda has a right to take the matter in the court to be compensated for these breaches. The medical practitioners and the hospital breached his rights to informed consent on the risks and benefits of the treatment. They failed to inform her of any risks and benefits about the treatment. This information could have enabled her to make an informed decision of whether to attend the procedure at the facility or not. She needs to note main points and issues in the case, prepare a detailed outline of important aspects that the judge will need to know, and then back it up (International Court of Justice, (2014). She should also get a good witness to provide factual evidence against the medics and the hospital (Family law, 2012). When presenting the facts, she should stick to the facts she prepared to ensure that she explains clearly to win the case.
Legal Aspects in Nursing References
Family law. (2012). Going to court. Retrieved form: http://www.familylawnb.ca/english/court_preparing_for_your_hearing
Find Law. (2014). Elements of a negligence case. Retrieved from: http://injury.findlaw.com/accident-injury-law/elements-of-a-negligence-case.html
International Court of Justice. (2014). Note for the parties concerning the preparation of pleadings. Retrieved from: http://www.icj-cij.org/documents/?p1=4&p2=5&p3=1
Moffett, P., & Moore, G. (2011). The Standard of Care: Legal History and Definitions: the Bad and Good News, J emerg med, 12(1): 109-112.
Moses, R., & Feld, A. (2008). Legal risks of clinical practice guidelines. Am J Gastroenterol. 103:7–11
Owen, D. (2007). The five elements of negligence, Hofstra law review, 35(4): 1-16. < http://law.hofstra.edu/pdf/academics/journals/lawreview/lrv_issues_v35n04_i01.pdf>
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