Negligence free essay sample

Paper Negligence, gross negligence, and malpractice are terms that healthcare professionals fear being involved in. We have healthcare laws and policies that guide each healthcare practice. In today’s litigious society, we see healthcare lawsuits that are wrongfully filled, some that are not valid, and some unjustly settled cases. Yet there are some situations where a lawsuit should have definitely taken place and no one filed. There are people that live of monies collected from lawsuits, while there are people that are uneducated, and unaware of these options. This paper will discuss the differences between malpractice, gross negligence, and negligence, and then use this information to comment on how a reasonable nurse would have possibly prevented that mishap that took place in the story of the patient in the Neighborhood, Episode 7, Season 3 newspaper article. â€Å"Negligence is a general term that denotes conduct lacking in due care† (Guido, 2010). In the healthcare world this means not providing proper care, or providing care that is inappropriate. We will write a custom essay sample on Negligence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This also meaning that the reasonable healthcare worker would have acted differently in the same situation. According to an article by Cornock, four elements must be proven to establish negligence, which are duty of care, breach of duty, harm, and causation (2011). Duty of care meaning that the healthcare professional owed the person a certain standard of care that he or she did not meet. Breach of duty is when the healthcare professional failed to act in a way that was expected from his or her professional area of expertise. Harm refers to the need to prove that harm has been sustained as a result of the breach of duty. Causation is speaking of needing to show a causal link between n the breach of duty and the harm suffered by the patient (Cornock, 2011). Malpractice is sometimes referred to a â€Å"professional negligence† (Guido, 2010). Malpractice encompasses patients receiving improper care as well as a break in the standards of practice of that healthcare professional. In order to file a malpractice lawsuit, the defendant must be a professional, such as a nurse, doctor, lawyer, etc. Courts have continually defined malpractice as professional misconduct, unreasonable lack of sill, or infidelity in professional or judiciary duties† (Guido, 2010). Usually malpractice results in the harm of a client. Among healthcare professionals, malpractice is any bad, unskilled, or negligent treatment that injures the patient. A standard of conduct is taken into consideration when analyzing malpractice cases. According to Quick, standard of conduct is the degree of skill and learning ordinarily possessed and used by members of the profession (2006). A member, who has met these standards, cannot generally be found negligent. Negligence and malpractice may be similar in nature and could possibly overlap. What determines the difference is if the person committing the act is a professional. A caretaker with no license would be accused of negligence and a nurse would be accused of malpractice. The other difference is that most courts have decided that professionals should be upheld to providing a higher quality of care than a non-professional. Gross negligence is when a healthcare worker knows that their actions will cause direct harm to the patient, but they do it anyway (Quick, 2006). Gross negligence, as defined, is a much more complicated and alarming concept. Gross negligence is an act or omission â€Å"which when viewed objectively from the standpoint of the actor at the time of its occurrence involves an extreme degree of risk, considering the probability and magnitude of the potential harm to others; and of which the actor has actual, subjective awareness of the risk involved, but nevertheless proceeds with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others† (Quick, 2006). Some examples would be using restraints as a convenience rather than for the patient’s safety until the patient develops either physical or psychological problems or not changing dressings on a post op patient until the patient develops an infection. The newspaper article in The Neighborhood, Episode 7, Season 3 is about a patient whom I believe was a victim of malpractice. He went into the local hospital to have one of his legs amputated due to diabetic complications. When he woke up from the surgery he discovered the wrong leg was amputated. He became terrified when he finally convinced himself that he would end up with no legs instead of what the original plan was. His quality of life would be tremendously affected. What he could do still having one leg; he would never again be able to do without any legs. The surgeon and the surgical team who committed this wrong are professionals and therefore this represents malpractice. The surgeon and his surgical team did not follow proper protocol prior to the surgery. As a nurse in this case I would have taken a few know precautions to lessen the probability of this type of life threatening mistake to occur. First, a pre-procedure checklist should have been prepared and signed off by multiple services such as surgical admitting, pre-op nursing staff, and finally operating room nurses prior to the surgery. These types of checklists have been adopted at most hospitals. The checklist includes verifying it is the right person, the right procedure, the right body part, the correct medications, and equipment. Performing a surgical pause or time and having all members agree would have eradicated this issue. If this checklist had been properly followed the mistake would have been prevented. Documenting everything that is done is a vital part of the nurse’s job, and one of the ways nurses can protect themselves from lawsuits. If a surgical pause had been done, and documentation had begun from the moment the patient arrived at surgical admitting that day, then mistakes like these would not have occurred. Documentation can greatly lessen the chances of untoward events like these. Conclussion With all the tasks at hand, it is easy to bypass documentation, and try to save some time by doing it later. In this example trying to save time has cost somebody to live the remainder of their lives with no legs. The article mentions a shortage of nursing staff that the hospital was experiencing. This most likely had a big impact on what happened in the operating room. The hospital will now probably face the challenge of keeping its doors open due to not dealing with employee concerns. Negligence, malpractice, and gross negligence can all be avoided simply by following hospital policies nd protocols.