There were specific situations that led to the cause of Julie Thao's actions of medication error and the death of Jasmine. The situation could have completely been avoided had Julie followed the code of ethics and avoided shorts to provide proper care for the patient. The state claimed that Thao's mistake was caused by actions, omissions and unapproved shortcuts, however, there were other factors that played a role in her carelessness as well. While failure to comply with procedure has been a factor in the medication administration error, other factors contributed as well. For example, failure to properly use the information system, or to ignore alerts or warnings have also resulted in preventable errors (Nelson, Evan, & Gardener, 2005). At the time of the event, a bar coding system for all medication had been in effect for a duration of two weeks, however, Thao had been gone one of those crucial weeks. Because of her absence, she did not receive the adequate training, instead, she received a sped
The case study “The Court Was Appalled” details Tomcik v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Corrections. In 1989, Tomcik was in custody within the Ohio Department of Corrections. She received an initial medical evaluation by a physician, Dr. Evans, employed at the facility she was detained at, including a breast exam, who determined she was healthy. Tomcik conducted her own breast exam and found a lump in her right breast. She made repeated attempts to be re-evaluated and several mistakes were made during the subsequent evaluations she did receive. Six months later, a physician not employed with the DOC determined Tomcik needed a modified radical mastectomy. The Ohio Department of Corrections was faulted by the Court of Appeals for
In the case of Tomcik vs. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Janet Tomcik, the plaintiff, blamed the loss of her right breast on the fact that there was a major delay in her examination and treatment of her tumor. This could be known as nonfeasance negligence, which is the “failure to act when there is a duty to act,” (Pozgar, 2016). The corrections department, or in this case, the defendant, claimed that Tomcik`s cancer was already so developed, that her breast would have been removed regardless of when her official checkup and treatment took place.
The thesis of this chapter states that in certain situations, it is crucial to listen to a medical professional, however, in others, it is very important to listen to yourself and also to do what you feel is right. The author of Complications," Atul Gawane, has written this specific chapter to persuade the reader of his thesis. If the choice you make is incorrect, then it could potentially be a matter of life and death.
Standard of care refers to the degree of care that a similar healthcare professional would apply under the same circumstances while taking into account any unexpected complications or conditions. To put it simply, if another healthcare professional with the same or similar training takes the same course of action as the healthcare professional at issue given the information known and the exact situation, the professional is seen as meeting the standard of care.
Tort reform has influence not only on the court and victims, but also on clinicians and medical field. Many health providers and clinicians are in favor of the tort reform (Santiago, 2016). The tort reform make clinicians have no full responsibilities to compensate for the malpractice, and they will not need pay for the cost. However, this is not mean that it is unfair to patients. For big medical treatments, such as surgeries, patients’ families usually need to sign a contract for possible medical risks that might happen. This is also a protection to doctors.
Whether or not our country should employ tort reform in order to stop “frivolous” lawsuits is a highly debated topic. While it is an issue in the medical community for doctors as well as patients, it is something that not only is affected by but also affects politics. The issue of tort reform has some political values and motivations behind it. As Justinian Lane describes in “The Politics Behind Tort Reform,” most Republicans are for tort reform for several reasons. Republicans tend to be for business, and want less government control and regulation. Thus, on the basis of their values, most republicans are for tort reform in the sense that it stops messing with business. Further, republicans are often supported by industries that are involved in medical malpractice, by siding with them, they can hope to keep their funding. On the democrat side of things, a considerable amount of trial lawyers are democrat. Democrats tend to side with lawyers who are defending victims of medical malpractice based on shared values and wanting to guarantee monetary donations to their campaigns. Further, with Democrats and Republicans picking different sides to this issue, it gives them more reasoning to stick with their side - so the other party doesn’t gain benefits.
It frustrates me what Dr. Anna Pou had to go through with the lawsuits of the Memorial Medical Center incident. As Healthcare professionals, being sued for making the rightful decision for the patient and the hospital is unjust. Healthcare professionals like Dr. Pou, have taken the Hippocratic oath, and one of the promises made within that oath is “first, do no harm”. Hospital’s should not be so quick to make such an important decision of pressing charges to their faculty; more trust should be placed in them. In addition, she made it clear her intentions were just to ‘‘help’’ patients ‘‘through their pain,’’ on national television. While her actions might not be seen as the best decision, she made one and did her best to make the rightful one under such poor circumstances that were out of her control.
In the film Escape Fire the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, there were many insightful examples of why our Unites States healthcare revolves around paying more and getting less. The system is designed to treat diseases rather than preventing them and promoting wellness. In our healthcare industry, there are many different contributors that provide and make up our system. These intermediaries include suppliers, manufacturers, consumers, patients, providers, policy and regulations. All these members have a key role in the functionality of the health care industry; however, each role has its positives and negatives. Each person with an occupation in the healthcare industry is doing their designated job as assigned, but it’s evident that the system’s design is flawed to its core.
As an aspiring physician in Emergency Medicine, it is hard to describe typical physician workday activities. Every day is unique and filled with many opportunities to learn and develop clinical, interpersonal communication, leadership and critical thinking skills. Despite this, there are certain routine activities which I had the opportunity to observe through my shadowing experience in the Emergency and Operating rooms at California Hospital Medical Center, Los Angeles. One day, a two year old patient came into the ER after falling and cutting her head. The patient’s mother told the physician that her daughter is nervous and scared. Upon meeting the little girl, I was surprised to see the doctor change his actions and way of communicating.
In this case, “Medical error kills Hopkins Cancer Patient” by Erika Niedowski, the error was the failure of a planned action to be completed or intended and the use of a wrong plan for instance overdosage of potassium to achieve an aim. These errors were preventable and may not have caused the harm. Preventable adverse drug events and their causes and contributing factors had caused stopped Brianna Cohen's heart. Hence, this is a sentimental event because this unanticipated event resulted in death to a patient, not related to the natural source of the patient's illness. Therefore, the threat and error management model should be used to determine both training needs and organizational strategies to improve the management of threats to safety.
This paper will explain the seven principles of patient-clinician communication. It will then apply three of those principles to my interactions with my patients. Next, it will describe three methods being used in my area of practice to improved communication between the patients and clinicians. It will ultimately choose one of those principles that applies best to my practice and clearly describe how I use it. It will describe ethical principles that can be applied to issues with patient-clinician communication. Finally, it will explain the importance of ethics in communication and how patient safety is influenced by good or bad team communication.
Recognize the background: the key of this step is to understand the medical issues involved. The medical issue in the Paradise Hill Medical Center (PHMC) was that 22 oncology patients received excessive doses of radiation therapy. The patients have not been informed yet that they received and overdose of radiation. The CEO alleged that it was the responsibility of the medical staff to inform the affected patients, and the medical team decided not to inform them about the error.
Everyone makes mistakes, but some are more deadly than others. Malpractice is the illegal or negligence, professional activity or they’re working out of the their scope of practice. Medical malpractice is one of the top causes of death in the United States. With this being said, insurance for medical practitioners would be considerably higher. Should the amount of malpractice insurance be lowered even though malpractice is one of the leading causes of death? The answer is yes, malpractice insurance should be lowered.
“Medical malpractice claims and lawsuits deal with Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. Negligence is the predominant theory of liability concerning allegations of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of Tort Law. Since the 1970s, medical malpractice has been a controversial social issue. Physicians have complained about the large number of malpractice suits and have urged legal reforms to curb large damage awards, whereas tort attorneys have argued that negligence suits are an effective way of compensating victims of negligence and of policing the medical profession. A person who alleges negligent medical malpractice must