What Are The 5 Elements Of Negligence

Introduction

Negligence is the failure to discharge reasonable care, which reasonable care refer to duty that would be done by any competent nurse (Nursing Board Malaysia, 1998), while malpractice is the negligence committed by a professional personal.

In this case, the parents in order to held healthcare personnel liable for malpractice in causing amputation of the baby’s hand, they need to prove in the court that the plaintiff fulfill all the 5 elements which include:

- Duty owed

- Breach of duty

- Foreseeability

- Causation

- Injury and damages

Elements to qualify this case as negligence and malpractice.

There are elements of malpractice that needed to establish liability. Firstly, the plaintiff must prove that there was duty owed

Lastly, the element that plaintiff need to held the defendant liable for negligence is injury and damage, the plaintiff must show some physical, financial and emotional injuries. In this case, the parents are from low income family and they will face problem in medical, rehabilitation, and prosthesis limb cost for their son. Furthermore, the permanent disability that suffer by the baby will cause emotional injury when he grows up. The main idea of compensatory damage is to assist the injured party to restore original position as possible (Guido,

For example, infusion therapy requires nurses to make sure the patient’s extremities out from swaddling for easy access the cannula site hourly, record the volume prescribes and the volume infused hourly, observe hourly for any leakage, redness, swelling, or warmth and to report if any abnormalities.

-According to Beall, Hall, T.Mulholland and Gephart (2013), the recommendation for practice to avoid vascular injury includes:

 Use of small bored catheter to avoid restriction blood flow.

 Prevent repetitive use of same vein.

 Use the transparent dressing to allow direct visualization.

 Place the secure ape loosely over bony prominence to prevent restriction blood circulation to extremities.

 Avoid site of cannulation at joint area.

 Dilute the intravenous medication with adequate volume of diluent follow protocol to prevent extravasation.

-In some hospitals, their policy will require the neonates to be put on central venous line or peripheral- inserted central catheter if the long term parenteral therapy or hyperosmolar fluids infusion to prevent vascular injury and complication. Nurses should advocate for patient by recommend to consultant about needs of central