Negligence in Nursing: Duty, Breach, and Liability
This paper examines the legal and ethical dimensions of negligence claims in healthcare, focusing on the four essential elements: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages. It applies this framework to a clinical scenario involving a new graduate nurse caring for an unstable pediatric patient. The analysis evaluates whether the nurse breached her duty of care, considers the roles of the charge nurse and attending physician, and assesses whether causation and damages can be established. The paper ultimately concludes that, based on the documented record of communication and intervention, negligence does not appear to have occurred in this case.
- Introduction to Negligence Claims: Overview of negligence framework and case context
- The Four Elements of Negligence: Duty, breach, causation, and damages defined
- Evaluating the Nurse's Duty and Breach: Assessing whether the nurse breached her duty
- Causation and the Role of the Physician: Linking physician contact to causation analysis
- Shared Responsibility Among the Care Team: Charge nurse and physician liability examined
- Conclusion: Negligence in Context: Final determination and broader nursing implications
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper systematically applies a well-established legal framework — the four elements of negligence — to a concrete clinical scenario, making the analysis both structured and grounded.
- It acknowledges the legitimacy of a potential claim before methodically dismantling it using evidence from the record, which demonstrates balanced legal reasoning rather than one-sided advocacy.
- The paper broadens its scope beyond the new nurse to examine shared responsibility among the charge nurse and physician, adding analytical depth and practical relevance to nursing practice.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates criterion-based legal analysis: each element of negligence is defined, then applied to the case facts in sequence. This "framework-then-application" approach is a core technique in legal and ethical reasoning assignments, as it keeps analysis organized and ensures no element is overlooked.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by defining the four negligence elements with citations, then transitions into case-specific analysis for each element. It addresses the nurse's conduct, the physician's telephone orders, and the charge nurse's supervisory role in turn, before concluding that the documented record does not support a finding of negligence. References follow APA format throughout.
Introduction to Negligence Claims
In determining whether negligent care occurred, a proper assessment of the facts and applicable legal standards is required. This paper discusses the elements necessary for a claim of negligence to be established, then evaluates a case involving an unstable child under the care of a new graduate nurse. Ultimately, the case centers on whether a breach of duty of care occurred and whether that breach produced legally cognizable harm.
The Four Elements of Negligence
To determine whether negligence occurred, four elements must be proved: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages (Cheluvappa & Selvendran, 2020). To establish a claim of negligence, there must first be a demonstration of a duty of care owed by the defendant (the care provider) to the plaintiff (the patient or the patient's family). In healthcare, this duty arises naturally from the professional relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient (Sand et al., 2022).
The second element is a breach of this duty, where the defendant fails to fulfill the obligation to provide care that meets the standard expected of them. This breach is evaluated based on what a reasonable and prudent healthcare provider would do in similar circumstances.
The third element is causation, which requires showing that the defendant's breach of duty directly caused or substantially contributed to the harm suffered by the plaintiff (Wright, 2022). This involves establishing a clear link between the actions or omissions of the defendant and the harm that occurred. Finally, the fourth element is damages, where the plaintiff must demonstrate that they suffered actual harm or losses as a result of the defendant's breach of duty. Damages can include physical injuries or financial losses. Successfully proving all four elements is necessary to establish a claim of negligence and to seek legal redress.
Evaluating the Nurse's Duty and Breach
The child's family can assert a claim of negligence against the new graduate nurse; however, proving that claim is another matter. In this case, the new nurse had a duty to provide competent care to the child, as is standard in nursing practice. That much is clear. It is also clear that the standard of care for a nurse requires accurate assessment and timely communication of changes in a patient's condition to the healthcare team. The record shows that the nurse fulfilled this obligation.
In order to make a claim of negligence, the family would need to show that the nurse breached her duty by failing to notify the team. Yet the record indicates that the nurse kept the charge nurse informed of the situation and communicated with the physician by telephone four times over the course of the night — and that none of the physician's orders resulted in an improved condition. In short, the nurse did all that could be expected of her under the applicable standards of care. Everyone with seniority over her was aware of the situation.
Awareness of a situation, however, does not necessarily mean that the team has the power to save a life when a condition is dire. The child's condition was very unstable, and everyone was aware of that. Negligence does not appear to have been a factor in the child's death. The child's family could potentially assert a claim, but the family would need to show that the nurse failed to meet the standard of care and that this failure led to the harm suffered by the child. The hospital, for its part, could demonstrate that utmost care was taken to monitor the child, inform the team, and intervene as fully as possible. With this record, the hospital would be able to show that the child's death was due to illness — not negligence.
Conclusion: Negligence in Context
Overall, for a claim of negligence to arise from this case, there would have to be evidence of a breach of duty, and that does not appear to be present. The nursing staff and the physician were all in the loop regarding the child's condition and the ongoing clinical instability. The case is instructive in revealing some of the challenges of nursing practice, particularly for new graduates in high-acuity situations. The question in any negligence analysis is always whether duty was demonstrated — and here, the record supports the conclusion that it was.
References
Cheluvappa, R., & Selvendran, S. (2020). Medical negligence — Key cases and application of legislation. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 57, 205–211.
Radanović, N. M., & Vukušić, I. (2020). Causation in medical malpractice. EU and Comparative Law Issues and Challenges Series (ECLIC), 4, 771–797.
Sand, M., Durán, J. M., & Jongsma, K. R. (2022). Responsibility beyond design: Physicians' requirements for ethical medical AI. Bioethics, 36(2), 162–169.
Wright, R. W. (2022). Causation (contribution) and the 'no worse off' limitation on liability. UW Austl. L. Rev., 49, 5.
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.