Yolanda Pinnelas Case Study: Who Should Be Sued

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Consensus Summary of Yolanda Pinnelas Case Study The purpose of this paper is to discuss a case study involving a 21-year-old patient, Yolanda Pinnelas, who was studying to be a musical conductor, and who was being treated with chemotherapy. The toxic medication allegedly caused severe deformity of the patient’s hand when it seeped out of the intravenous (IV) catheter and into the surrounding tissues with minimal intervention by the hospital staff noted. This malpractice case will be reviewed thoroughly by each one of the group members and a discussion of the issues relating to duty, documentation, liability, damages and more will be discussed in detail within this paper. Liability Issues/Parties Involved/Who Should Be Sued Liability Issues …show more content…

As such, in the Yolanda Pinnelas case, when the 21-year-old oncology patient who was administered IV Mitomycin to treat her anal cancer and developed necrosis to the hand after. In malpractice cases the burden is on the Plaintiff to prove the four elements of the claim, namely duty, breach, damages and proximate cause. According to Westrick (2014b), the four elements must be proven to arrive at a successful claim. Duty is the responsibility of healthcare provider to treat and care for patients. Breach is a failure in treatment or neglect of care. Damages are injuries which happen because there was breach. Proximate cause is proof that the injury happened because of the …show more content…

In malpractice claims both the employer and the practitioner can be sued. Nurses need to know the different types of insurances and what they cover. Personal liability covers the nurse for representation for State Board actions, volunteer work and high risk areas. Some employers are making personal liability mandatory for employment. Employer liability covers actions of nurses when they are practicing in their scope of practice; nurses need to be aware that these insurances have limitations. More nurses are carrying liability insurance, to cover their practice in the face of increased

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