Medical Malpractice Essays (Examples)

..bad investment choices, in addition to the underwriting cycle, have led to dwindling profits for insurers, who then try to recoup their losses through over-priced insurance products. Lawyers and consumer groups generally support efforts to reform the insurance industry in order to rein in premiums." (Cohen, 2005)

The work of Miller (2003) entitled: "Liability for Medical Malpractice: Issues and Evidence" states that over the past "...several years" witnessed has been an increase of a considerable nature in both the cost and the impact of "medical malpractice litigation." Miller states specifically that "...between 1994 and 2001, the typical medical malpractice award increased 176% to $1 million. The result has been higher malpractice insurance premiums for health care providers, which in turn has led to higher costs for the health care system as well as reduced access to medical services. In 2001, total premiums for medical malpractice insurance topped $21 billion, more…

Medical Malpractice Myth eview

A summary of the book

The Medical Malpractice Myth authored by Tom Baker, tackles the complex subject of medical malpractices in an insightful and concise manner. Mr. Baker is an accomplished professor of law who specializes in Insurance and Tort Law. In the first few pages of the book, Mr. Baker, lays out the myth; i.e. that an unprecedented number of people are filing medical malpractice lawsuits and that lawyers and their clients are reaping hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in unjustified awards, while medical doctors are struggling to pay huge insurance premiums which have already forced some to close their practices (Noah, 2005).

The book is written in eight chapters. In the first chapter, Baker lays out the myth and provides plenty of evidence to its contrary. He then points his readers to the real problem that is facing the health care…

However, Carol's use of the Internet for personal matters during the workday is also an example of how mixing work and personal matters can make it difficult for employees to get along. All workers should be reminded of the need to exercise good judgment and to keep work and personal matters separate. They should be referred to the relevant company policies in the employee handbook, if necessary. Bob in particular should receive additional sensitivity training in appropriate workplace behavior from an HR counselor. This type of incident should be a 'red flag' about the need for company-wide awareness about what constitutes harassment to avoid similar trouble in the future.

Scenario 5 Parking Dispute

Bert and Ernie live in the same condominium building, which has an owner's association and a resident manager. Each condo owner gets one parking space, but the spaces are not assigned.

Bert's perspective: For some reason, Ernie…

Mitchell. The left arm of the child had to be amputated because of the unsuccessful vascular operation. According to the court session, there was a question to be answered in relation to the agency theory in determining the role of Dr. Williams in this encounter (Tenn Ct App 1970).

The article also focuses on reviewing the case of Edmands v. Chamberlain Memorial Hospital in the context of 1978. The case was against the hospital following the death of the plaintiff's husband having been taken to the emergency department of the hospital. Following deterioration of the health conditions, the patient was taken to the hospital the next day, which resulted into execution of an emergency surgery. Plaintiff's husband died in the course of the operation. According to the hospital, Dr. Loftis was never an employee to the institution, but a staff physician (Tenn Ct App 1937). The court stated the presence…

legal issue and that pertains to respiratory care. As part of this article review, the author will give the purpose of the article, will answer as to why it is important to investigate the subject of the article, how the author(s) of the article carried out the task, the findings the article came, whether those findings were clearly stated and how much of article applied to the profession in which the author of this report works. While the author of this report has not been in any legal predicaments related to the field of respiratory care, it is indeed the field in which the author works.

The article that will be basis of this article review was published in 2001 and was found by the author of this report via an EBSCO search. As was requested and required by the assignment, the subject of the report is indeed one that…

Medical Malpractice/Frivolous Lawsuits

The Effect of Medical Malpractice/Frivolous Lawsuits on Healthcare

The costs of medical malpractice insurance are rising yearly. These expenses affect medical practitioners in a number of ways, including such things as from where they choose to practice medicine, to the number of tests and types and medical procedures ordered. Many doctors in various specialties are aware that the laws and regulations that govern malpractice insurance vary from state to state. Since the averages fluctuate dramatically a doctor will sometimes choose a location in which to practice based on malpractice insurance costs (Writing, NDI).

There are a number of factors that give rise to these variations among states, each individual insurer sets its own premiums for medical malpractice insurance, and these are based on incidents of litigation and other general assessments of the risk pool. This means the insurance companies providing insurance within the state look at the…

Health Care

The objective of this study is to discuss medical malpractice and to support the opinion that this is in need of a reform.

Many people die each year from medical errors and many others are seriously injured. It is reported that the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) "seminal study of preventable medical errors estimated as many as 98,000 people die every year at a cost of $29 billion." (American Association for Justice, 2011, p. 3) It is additionally reported that were the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to "include preventable medical errors as a category, these conclusions would make it the sixth leading cause of death in America." (American Association for Justice, 2011, p. 1) In addition, it is reported that the Congressional udget Office (CO) states findings that "there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence in 2003 The Institute for Healthcare Improvement estimates there are 15…

Human esources

Medical malpractice litigations have become very common these days. Perhaps this could be because of the healthcare reform that is characterized with legal and regulatory issues. Confidentiality is an integral part of this reform (National Institute of Health, 2007). States Laws relating to privacy of health information that are inconsistent with the rule are overridden by Privacy ules. However, those not contrary to the Privacy ule have remained in force and effect (National Institute of Health, 2007).

There are circumstances when States Laws cannot be overridden by Privacy ule especially when it comes to State Laws that relate to privacy of individually identifiable health information. State laws the provide for reporting of disease or injury, child abuse, birth or death, conducting public health surveillance cannot be overridden by the Privacy ule (National Institute of Health, 2007). State Law here means a constitutional provision, a statute, a regulation, rule,…

ole of isk Management in Medical Malpractice

The role of risk management in the health care industry begins with many preventative actions. One of the most argued and sensitive subjects in the last decade has been that of medical malpractice. Severe bleeding during operations, breathing problems due to incorrectly performed procedures, among other malpractice issues are becoming increasingly popular for legal suits between patients and medical providers. To fight back, medical providers are working to change the legal system (Grady, 2010). One simple questions remains. Is malpractice improving, or are laws simply protecting negligent medical providers?

History of Medical Malpractice

Preventable medical errors kill or injure hundreds of thousands of Americans annually. Of this amount, 98,000 are killed at a cost of $29 billion. Medical errors have become such a large cause of death that the Centers for Disease Control has claimed it as the sixth leading cause of death…

Current interest rates are 5% and the contract rate is 5%. The value of the contracted payment is $50,000. Should interest rates increase, there would again be a danger in the loss of potential funds, as the fixed rate agreement (i.e. The contract rate) would then be of a lower value than other potential interest earning activities.

c.

The next annual payment on an 6% interest rate cap on a notational amount of $1 million if current rates are 8%. The payment would be 2% of $1 million, or $20,000. If the interest rate drops below 6%, however, no payment will be made at all, and any drop in the interest rate as of the day of the contracted payment -- even a sudden drop limited to that day -- would result in a reduced or potentially vanished payment.

12.

Given the following yields on U.S. Treasuries, determine the spot…

According to the work of Fulford (1994) in an Oxford Practice Skills Project eport "Three elements of practice (ethics, law and communication skills) are approached in an integrated teaching programme which aims to address everyday clinical practice. The role of a central value of patient-centered health care in guiding the teaching is described. Although the final aim of the teaching is to improve the actual practice, we have found three 'sub-aims' helpful in the development of the programme. These sub-aims are: increasing students' awareness of ethical issues; enhancing their analytical thinking skills, and teaching specific knowledge. (Hope, 1994)

In the work of Miles, et al. (1989) entitled "Medical Ethics Education: Coming of Age it is stated that "medical ethics education is instruction that endeavors to teach the examination of the role of values in the doctor's relationship with patients, colleagues and society. It is one form of a broad curricular…

Medical malpractice is defined as "any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient" (Bal, 2009, p.340). Notability, while Bal (2009) defines this in the context of physicians, it is also important to realise that other medical practitioners, such as nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and occupational therapists, can also be subject to malpractice suits. The risks associated with an accusation of malpractice remain high, for example, in a recent report it was found that doctors in low risk specialty areas had a 75% chance of facing a malpractice claim, whereas those is high risk specialities had a 100% chance (Seabury, Lakdawalla, and Chandra, 2011). However, the incidence level of paid claims is reducing; in 2014 there were a total of 11,922 claims, a 4.3% decrease on the preceding year (Gamble,…

Malpractice cases are not filed against physicians alone, there can be occasions during regular patient care that a nurse might come under attack for failure to follow standards of care and this can result in a malpractice case. The six elements on malpractice as are follows:

Duty:

This refers to the relationship that the nurse has with the patient or in other words, it needs to be established that the nurse has the duty to provide care as the patient demanded. "Duty is the obligation of due care owed by one person to another as appropriate for the circumstances and as may be dictated by the law." (Sharpe, p. 18) The plaintiff must establish that the defendant had a legal obligation to provide expected care.

Foreseeability:

This refers to the link that is expected to exist between nurse's actions and the injury caused. In other words, the results of nurse's…

Ethics Case Study: Medical Law and Ethics

Jerry McCall is Dr. William's office assistant. He has received professional training as both a medical assistant and an LPN. He is handling all of the phone calls at the office while the receptionist is at lunch. During this period of time, a patient calls and says he must have a prescription refill for Valium, an antidepressant medication, called in right away to his pharmacy, since he is leaving for the airport in thirty minutes. The patient notes that Dr. Williams is a personal friend and always gives him a small supply of Valium when he has to fly. No one except Jerry is in the office at this time.

Does Jerry's Medical Training Qualify Him to efill the Order?

While Jerry's medical training qualifies him to receive a prescription order and transcribe it accurately for other nurses or physicians to implement or…

Health Care Situation: Medical Error Due to Doctors' Bad Handwriting

Identify a health care news situation that affects a health care organization such as a hospital, clinic or insurance company.

I have identified the following health care news situation as the topic of my paper: "Poor Handwriting of Doctors and its implied risks for the Patient, Hospital and Medical Malpractice Insurance." Poor handwriting of physicians resulting in poor legibility of entries into patients' medical records carries very dramatic risks for all above-mentioned interest bearers. It can result in severe health danger for the patient and - in extreme situations - even cause a patient's death. Doctors' bad penmanship has long been seen a problem within organized medicine and the patient safety movement. Three American Medical Association (AMA) policies dating back to 1992, urge doctors to "improve the legibility of handwritten orders for medications" and review all orders for accuracy and…

While an individual can sue or make a claim that his or her benefits were illegally denied, the "decision of the plan administrator may often be reversed only if it was found to have been arbitrary and capricious, a very difficult standard to meet. Even if that is proven, EISA limits damages… [ensuring] the HMO will not be punished" in a substantive fashion (EISA, 2004, HAP).

However, some state courts, despite EISA have held HMOs directly liable for negligent treatment of their members, such as when an HMO refused to grant a patient the 30 days of inpatient psychiatric care his doctor said he required and only covered 10 days. The California court "ruled that an organization, such as the patient's HMO, that substantially shaped the course of patient care could be held liable for the quality of the care actually delivered… a Pennsylvania court also held that an HMO…

True Cost of Increased Malpractice Insurance in the ealth Care Industry

During the last decade, medical malpractice premiums have increased exponentially, resulting in a decreased pool of qualified physicians operating in the medical arena. The medical industry is facing many crises, including rapidly increasing health insurance premiums that affect consumers directly. One arena consumers may not have considered evaluating is that of medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice, as defined by the U.S. General Accounting Office and Black Law Dictionary, arises as a result of "bad, wrong or injudicious treatment of a patient, professionally and in respect to the particular disease or injury, resulting injury, unnecessary skill, disregard or established rules of principles, neglect or malicious or criminal intent" (Black Law Dictionary, cited in U.S. General Accounting Office, 1987f: 11; from ay, 1992). One should assume under the governance of law within the United States that a majority of human activities performed…

rising cost of healthcare have many wondering what can be done to make healthcare affordable. Many believe that a prime source of the rising healthcare cost is the exorbitant amount of money that some have received in malpractice suits. Many experts contend there should be a limit or cap on the amount of money that people can receive in a malpractice suit. The purpose of this discussion is to explain if there should be a cap on malpractice awards.

hy Caps Should exists

The main reason why Caps should exist is associated with the cost of malpractice insurance for doctors. In recent years, many doctors have been forced to stop practicing medicine because of the high cost of malpractice insurance. According to an article entitled "The Doctors' Big Squeeze: Huge Increases in Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates Are Driving Doctors out of Business. hat's the Answer" caps on malpractice awards will…

clinical cases and examine malpractice perspectives.

Background Info

Concerns over mounting healthcare expenses have resulted in increased inquiry into medical practices. With the rise of malpractice risk and medical liability to unprecedented levels, the field of medical law has influenced defensive medical practice as healthcare providers endeavor towards liability risk mitigation (Nahed, et.al, 2012).

Elements Needed to Prove Malpractice

Medical malpractice is associated with four fundamental elements, all of which have to be present for forming the base for any claim. For any case of medical malpractice to succeed, an attorney is required to prove all four aspects, which are: duty, causation, damages, and breach (What are the Elements of a Medical Malpractice Claim? n.d.). The first element -- Duty -- implies that health care professionals owe their patients the duty to take reasonable and appropriate action; i.e., the practitioner is accountable for delivering some form of treatment or care…

Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the nation's largest healthcare system through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), including 152 medical centers (VAMCs), 800 community-based outpatient clinics and numerous state-based domiciliaries and nursing home care units (About VA, 2016). As the second-largest cabinet agency in the federal government, the VA's budget exceeds the State Department, USAID, and the whole of the intelligence community combined) with more than $60 billion budgeted for VHA healthcare (Carter, 2016). One of the VHA's largest medical centers that provides tertiary healthcare services to eligible veteran patients is the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center (OKC VAMC) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Like several other VAMCs, the OKC VAMC has recently been implicated in a system-wide scandal concerning inordinately lengthy patient waiting times and misdiagnoses which may have contributed to the deaths of some veteran patients and jeopardized…

Business Plan

Professional Medical Transportation:

In order to prepare a Business Plan, it is worthwhile to note that professional medical transportation can be offered both as an emergency as well as non-emergency service. Services offered could be Priority Medical Dispatch, 911 Pre-arrival instructions, Emergency Ambulance Service, Wheelchair service and Scheduled Ambulance Service. Since Priority Medical dispatch will be taking the 911 calls, it has to be ensured that ambulance possessing the most sophisticated equipment and qualified medical experts reach during emergency situations. As regards 911 pre-arrival instructions, the dispatchers will be answering 911 callers, the information they require to tackle an emergency medical situation till arrival of the ambulance. (Services we offer)

Under Emergency Ambulance Service, paramedics and emergency medical specialist have to attend to emergency calls and deal with transfers among health care facilities, round the clock, all seven days in a week. Under Wheelchair service, non-emergency patients using…

Apology legislation has gained traction in the United States health sector in recent years. The laws have gained significant attention in the recent past due to the belief that apologies made by healthcare providers and professionals for serious medical events help to mitigate patients’ decisions on whether to litigate. Currently, these laws have been enacted in twenty-nine states. Based on the provisions of most of these laws, the apologetic expressions of sympathy by healthcare providers cannot be used against them in court. The United States has witnessed the increased implementation of apology legislation as part of the movement to dismantle what has traditionally been a deny-and-defend culture in medical practice. According to Daigle (2017), the enactment of apology legislation is expected to help avoid lawsuits, lessen the overall administrative costs related to litigating cases, enhance communication between parties, promote alternative dispute resolution, and lessen malpractice insurance and overall healthcare costs.…

Pharm Advertising

eduction of Malpractice

One of the key manners in which direct-to-physician advertising of pharmaceuticals can lead to health promotion is in the reduction of malpractice on the part of physicians when it comes to the administering of pharmaceuticals. It is of course the primarily (and ultimately, solely) the physicians' responsibility to ensure the proper and effective use of pharmaceutical products, just as it is their responsibility to ensure that all care practices and interventions are in the best interests of the patient. Pharmaceutical companies have this goal and this responsibility as well, however, and they can be instrumental in making sure that true best interests are served with current knowledge of best practices and new potentials. As advertising is ultimately the provision of information, it can be seen that the direct advertising of pharmaceuticals to physicians can provide more comprehensive, detailed, and current information regarding new products, new…

Responsibilities of Nurses to Patients

Why is it important

The role of nurses has a direct implication on the patients. For example, nurses observe and provide direct care to the patients. The physicians give orders and thus are the role of the nurses to implement (Aiken et al., 2014). Often, the work of the physicians is not complete without the help of the nurses. The nurses are responsible for changing clothes and giving the medications to patients. Often, the patients are unable to do basic tasks, and therefore the roles of nurses become very important. Nurses keep medical records for the patients and therefore give medications to the patients in time and monitor their progress.

Another important role of the nurse is assessing the response of the patients to medications. Keep the records for the progress of patients is an invaluable practice. The records help the nurses to monitor how…

A chain of communication needs to be established for future cases.

More concrete recommendations for the organization include a clear system for assigning and determining a physician-in-charge for every admitted patient at all times, such that there is never a situation where emergency care is being directed through a cell phone, where there is not a clear hierarchy during medical response, and where there is clear accountability after the fact. Even simply signing at the top of a chart or on a room board can become an assignation of responsibility, and a simply rule that a physician must remain in the building until their patients have been signed over to someone else would ensure that care decisions are being made with immediacy and accountability in the future. More extensive training programs and requirements regarding proficiency testing should also be put into place for special types of cases before units are…

This wrong doing is in violation of the ethical obligation of nurses to advocate on behalf patients in order to ensure their well-being. If a patient is injured due to this kind of mistreatment, the hospital is liable, and the nurse may receive discipline, possibly suspension. However, the plaintiff (the patient) may also choose to file a law suit against the individual nurse as well (Giordano, 2003).

Another example would be if a surgical nurse noticed during routine charting procedures that a patient about to go into surgery on their left knee was supposed be receiving their surgery on their right knee. To avoid medical error and a subsequent malpractice suit, the nurse could verify with other nurses and the surgeon that the patient would be receiving the appropriate surgery.

eference

Giordano, K. (2003). Examining nursing malpractice: a defense attorney's perspective - legal counsel. Critical…

Donald then concluded that when a child is found suffering from genital irritation, it was best to have circumcision performed on him "during the first year of life, so that to a degree at least danger of future moral contamination may be avoided."

he obvious and well-documented benefits of circumcision led to a sudden increase in its popularity and by 1889, it was getting circumcised was in fashion. Circumcision gained even greater support when it was presented not as a cure but also as a prophylactic. Since the benefits were well-known and circumcision was widely advocated, people decided that it was better to get their children circumcised as soon as it was possible. hus, instead of waiting for diseases to develop or other signs of discomfort to emerge, it was thought best to have circumcision done before it was too late and thus neonatal circumcision became popular. By 1910 and…

Fault: An Alternative to the Current Tort-Based System in England and Wales

The United Kingdom

statistics regarding claims

THE NATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM

OBSTACLES TO DUE PROCESS

THE CASE FOR REFORM

THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

THE RISING COST OF LITIGATION

LORD WOOLF'S REFORMS

MORE COST CONTROLS

THE UNITED STATES

PAUL'S PULLOUT

THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

TORT REFORM IN AMERICA

FLEEING PHYSICIANS

STATISTICS FOR ERROR, INJURY AND DEATH

THE CALL FOR REFORM IN 2003: A FAMILIAR REFRAIN

THE UNITED STATES SITUATION, IN SUMMARY

NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDIES

THE SWEDISH SCHEME

COMPARISON: WHICH SYSTEM IS BETTER?

FIRST: UNDERLYING DIFFERENCES

TALKING TORT: AMERICAN PECULIARITIES

AMERICANS CONSIDER NO-FAULT

BRITAIN CONSIDERS NO-FAULT

CONCLUSION

Works Cited

Appendix A THE UNITED KINGDOM

INTRODUCTION

At issue is the economic effectiveness of tort law in the common law legal system of England and Wales, as applied to medical and clinical negligence and malpractice cases. In response to economic concerns and a continual…

(Chizek, 2003)

The ole legal nurse consultant may provide service in a number of roles, including but not limited to:

Consulting expert

Testifying expert

Facility-based investigator

Trainer and in-service presenter

Peer reviewer

Quality improvement, risk management, claims management

Liability insurance marketer and clinical resource" (Chizek, 2003)

As standards of care constantly change, medical and nursing staff must keep informed of current standard to develop and/or modify policies and procedures, which must be maintained and secured indefinitely. In the event the facility is sued, these will be used to establish the current standard during the time of the questionable occurrence. Policies and procedures also provide the legal nurse consultant with the foundation for facility documentation to be judged for compliance. (Chizek, 2003)

The minimum length of time the modified policies and procedures should be kept is the time frame of the statute of limitations in the individual jurisdiction. In most jurisdictions,…

Leflar's Analysis Of Medical Malpractice eform

Leflar (2013) analyzes how medical malpractice reform is affecting the health care industry in his medical ethics study entitled "Medical Malpractice eform Measures and Their Effects." Leflar describes three types of reform initiatives placed into effect in the recent past: limited-liability reforms which favor the health care providers, procedural reforms said to promote safe harbor laws, and systematic overhaul reforms which "move liability away from physicians to hospitals or administrative no-fault compensation systems" (Leflar, 2013, p. 306). Leflar also assesses the current state of reforms already in place, such as damage caps, and that they ineffective at achieving the aims sought by medical malpractice reformers. Leflar suggests that more attention should be given to reforms which concentrate on no-fault systems, safe harbor laws, patient comp funds, early offers, etc.

Leflar notes how malpractice law stems from the tort law and that the earliest laws…

Insurance Considerations

Discuss the basic types of homeowners policies that are used today. When is each type most appropriate?

Homeowners insurance policies are for people who own or are buying their own home and for people who rent a home or apartment. A homeowners policy can also include a personal liability policy, often referred to as an umbrella policy, that extends the liability limits of other policies in case a court awards higher amounts than a policyholder's limits. Personal property riders for expensive property can be added to a homeowners policy to cover items and belongings that are higher risk for damage or theft. Special riders can also be purchased to cover natural disasters that may be excluded from homeowners policies, such as earthquake, flood, or tornado; minimally, a homeowner should be sure that their property is not underinsured.

Discuss the pros and cons of purchasing the rental car damage…

Further, although whenever one device tries to accomplish more than one "thing," one of those "things" typically suffers; however, innovations in recent years have made these all-in-one approaches competitive with stand-alone units and occupy a concomitantly smaller footprint in a crowded law office but these devices will still likely underperform their separate unit counterparts. As one authority emphasizes, "All-in-one devices are typically smaller desktop units that have relatively low speed and volume capacity" (Need All in One Copiers?, 2008, p. 3).

Some popular major brand all-in-one machines are described further in Table 4 below.

Table 4.

Popular all-in-one copier/printer/scanner (fax) machines.

Copier/Printer/Scanner (Fax)

Description/Features/Performance

Price/Comments

Sharp A-208D Copier / Printer/Scanner

Desktop model with 20-page-per-minute copying / printing and integrated color PC scanning; 50-sheet document feeder provides standard 2-sided scanning for extra efficiency, as well as duplex printing and copying. Converts black & white and color documents into digital files that…

Equitable Remedy Applications

Equity remedies come from common law jurisdictions and are judge made from previous cases. They are applied to other cases that have some of the same circumstances to aid judges in deciding cases. Equity remedies are based on the U.S. Constitution.

For a medical malpractice suit, injunctive relief is appropriate to prevent action, stop ongoing and repeated action that violates a person's rights or causes harm, or to force a defendant to take action in order to prevent harm (What is an injunction?, 2013). Monetary damage can be requested with the injunctive relief. Injunctive relief must be a last resort with proof of other remedies not working. It begins with a petition asking the court to grant injunctive relief. Once the court grants injunctive relief, the court can court order a defendant until a final hearing, known as a temporary injunction. At a hearing, both parties present…

Stated to be barriers in the current environment and responsible for the reporting that is inadequate in relation to medical errors are:

Lack of a common understanding about errors among health care professionals

Physicians generally think of errors as individual that resulted from patient morbidity or mortality.

Physicians report errors in medical records that have in turn been ignored by researchers.

Interestingly errors in medication occur in almost 1 of every 5 doses provided to patients in hospitals. It was stated by Kaushal, et al., (2001) that "the rate of medication errors per 100 admission was 55 in pediatric inpatients. Using their figure, we estimated that the sensitivity of using a keyword search on explicit error reports to detect medication errors in inpatients is about 0.7%. They also reported the 37.4% of medication errors were caused by wrong dose or frequency, which is not far away from our result of…

Malpractice in Patient Care

Nurse A is assigned to Mr. Jones and is tasked with ensuring that the patient is protected at all times. The patient cannot do certain things that will assure him a protected and assured health process. The nurse provides every necessary help and support so that Mr. Jones can recover as expected. Presently, the nurse has been doing well on the shift. Additionally, the nurse should ensure that the patient has received equitable medical service. In the case presented, the nurse is doing well since he is at the touching distance between him and the patient. The nurse should offer an immediate observation on the health situation of the patient throughout the nursing process, which is throughout the night shift. The nurse has the duty to ascertain the feelings and changes within the patient to be accurate on what is happening and what is likely to…

Ethics in the Helping Professions

Malpractice Vulnerability

egardless of what specific profession a practitioner is engaged in, there are certain malpractice vulnerabilities that are germane to industries in which people seek the help of others. One of the most eminent of such vulnerabilities, and possibly the one that most frequently results in litigation, is miscommunication, which is an integral component of customer service and is at the heart of every practitioner's business. Far too often, practitioners leave themselves vulnerable to claims of malpractice by failing to communicate effectively with customers. This simple mistake can lead to a variety of exacerbating situations including the formation of unrealistic expectations to misunderstandings regarding the results and manner of treatment and may lead to customers believing that practitioners have deliberately mistreated them (No author, 2010).

Billing is another common area in which malpractice litigation may be sought. Discrepancies or inconsistency in billing -- which…

The expectations for these kinds of changes will be to see gradual shifts at first. Where, it may not seem like anything is changing at the facility. However, over the course of time, these kinds of changes will be obvious in the quality of treatment that is being provided will improve. As a result, the strategy will take approximately one year to fully implement a change in the atmosphere of the operating environment.

To ensure that these improvements can continue to be built upon a new system will be introduced of monitoring for shifts that are occurring. In this case, the committee that was established to implement these changes will become way of: monitoring the kinds of treatment that is being provided and the challenges that are facing the facility. This will be accomplished by having outside consultants conduct anonymous surveys of patients, staff members and within the community. They…

Employment Agreement

Nurse Practitioner Employment Contract

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE FOLLOWING PARTIES:

The following party shall here in be referred to as "Corporation"

GROUP HEALTH CORPORATE,

The following party shall here in be referred to as "EMPLOYEE" or "NP"

MINNIE DAVIS ARNP,

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT

DURATION

The contract duration is for two years with an option for renewal for five (5) years thereafter.

COMPENSATION

Salary:

The contracted position will be paid at a salary rate of $95,000 per year with a cost of living of 5% every 2 years. The pay is not based on performance.

The contract will be renewed the sixth month after review of the employee's performance.

Paychecks will be issued monthly.

TERMINATION

The termination of this contract may be made under the following conditions.

Violation of State or Federal Law

Breach of the Contract by either Party

Performance of the NP

Desire to Leave the…

Einstein

The quote any man who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new, Albert Einstein captures the essence of why many services providers including those in the medical profession set for mediocrity over continually pushing themselves for excellence. The many errors in the healthcare services industry can be attributed to outmoded, often very expensive processes that have lost touch with patients' needs (Kumar, Steinebach, 444).

Analysis of the Quote

In a paradoxical sense, the more pressure on the healthcare industry to change in terms of quality of care, with the pressure equally applied across physicians to care providers and healthcare maintenance organizations (HMO) the greater the resistance to change (Kumar, Steinebach, 444). Mediocrity within the healthcare industry is actively protected as a result, making innovation and risk-taking for consumers seen not as a revenue or cost advantage, but a cost drain and risk to profitability (Wright, 205).…

Substance Induced Insanity

Psychosis is a psychiatric state that can either be enduring or temporary. A person suffering from the condition may experience memory lapses, incoherent speech or thoughts, lack of concentration, delusions and/or hallucinations. Other symptoms that may manifest when one is suffering from psychosis include changes in personality and exhibition of unusual behaviors. It has been established that psychosis can be caused by various substances such as marijuana, methamphetamine and alcohol. Substance induced psychosis typically occurs when an individual has been continually using stimulants over a long period of time. The two most common substances or stimulants known to induce psychosis are methamphetamine and amphetamine. Apart from these drugs, the 'designer' drugs have also been found to induce the condition. Individuals suffering from substance-induced psychosis may exhibit loss of contact with reality and they may also become fixated on a certain action or place and may engage in…

On the contrary, a comprehensive medical care solution that tackles the main issues driving up health care costs in America is possible. The main problem experienced by the average American is that health insurance premiums are cost prohibitive for the middle-class, but being uninsured can bankrupt a family forced to deal with even a minor catastrophic illness. Therefore, a national health insurance program has to be part of the solution. However, one cannot overlook the role that unpaid medical bills and exorbitant malpractice premiums also play in the modern healthcare crises. As a result, the solution must include a way to reduce malpractice premiums through tort reform, and a way to reduce the percentage of medical bills that go unpaid. The proposed three-prong approach would tackle all of those issues, without forcing any unwilling person to participate in a nationalized healthcare program.

orks Cited

American Tort Reform Association. "Medical Liability…

Tort Reform

President Bush came into the hite House with a history as a 'tort reformer.' True to his record, the President backed a 'tort reform' bill last year that was passed by the House of Representatives but floundered in a Democratic controlled Senate. The President has recently renewed his call for the legislature to approve a tort reform bill that relates mainly to medical malpractice. It remains to be seen whether President Bush is successful in getting his proposals approved this time around as debate still rages among the supporters and opponents of the reform bill. This paper looks at the pros and cons of the issue and includes the following:

summary of the proposed public policy on tort reform

The impact of the policy (who shall be affected?)

The lobbying efforts in favor of and against the tort reforms

Summary

The present tort reform proposal is restricted to…

Nursing Definitions

Autonomy

Autonomy in the nursing profession states the importance of the client's role in making decisions that reflect advocacy for the client (Wade, 1999, p.310). Ultimately, this includes taking care of the patient physically as well as mentally and emotionally, developing a relationship with the patient that is beneficial to his care and actively advocating for the patient's rights and care. This type of autonomy, it is important to note, is not the same as individual or work autonomy, yet it must be considered that empowerment in nursing autonomy will inevitably lead to better professional and personal autonomy and should also lead to increased job satisfaction (Wade, 1999, p.310).

Typical definitions of autonomy would include the idea of complete independence for the person making the decisions. However, in the case of the nursing profession, the client's needs and desires must be heavily weighed and, in fact, become central…

Tort of Negligence with regards to business law. The discussions will particularly focus on areas that affect business decisions and any underlying law principles that have any effect on the same. There is also a section that looks at some of the sources of distrust of law.

Negligence primarily means an action that creates an unreasonable risk, or in other words the failure of an individual to act normatively, as a rational person would. The standard that is used to determine if an individual is guilty of the offense of negligence is by asking ourselves whether a careful person would have done the same. In most cases it is often an issue of whether or not there was an act of negligence or conversely whether or not there was compliance or conformity of one's act to those of a reasonable man (Negligence-As a Matter of Law or a Question of…

Stakeholders

The insurance defense lawyers association as well as plaintiff bar associations have a great deal to lose through medical malpractice tort reform. Likewise, medical malpractice insurance companies also have an interest in the legislation as do the professional organizations representing healthcare providers and hospitals. The general public has a stake in the issue at hand since their insurance rates are affected by medical malpractice claims, settlements, and verdicts; and, moreover, the quality of their medical care is also adversely affected due the current state of the medical malpractice system (Leape, 2001).

4. Issue Statement

Should the federal government hold heath care institutions and healthcare workers accountable for hospital acquired conditions though they may not be directly responsible?

B. Policy Goals and Options

5. Policy Objectives

The underlying policy here seeks to hold health care providers liable for negligence due to a health acquired condition so as to ensure the…

Philosophy Case Study

The Ethical Provision of Health Insurance

The current state of healthcare is in crisis. The costs of healthcare are soaring, which has caused many employers to either reduce health insurance benefits for employees or to cease offering insurance coverage to their employees. Middle and lower income workers feel the pressure the most, with many of them opting out of insurance benefits, even when they are offered by employers. Currently, 80% of all uninsured people are working or are the dependents of workers. Many of the working uninsured now rely on publicly funded insurance programs, such as Medicaid, which is rapidly depleting state resources. Despite these facts, the United States has continued to resists efforts to socialize its medical system. The just solution to this dilemma is to offer state-sponsored systems of healthcare, which are not funded or subsidized with public money.

One of the major problems with…

health care in the United States has been the source of heated debate for a number of years. Although the publicity surrounding the issue has been considerable and made to look like it is a recent problem facing the nation, the problem, in reality, has been on the horizon for nearly a century. During President Woodrow Wilson's administration, efforts were unsuccessfully made to pass national legislation regarding the delivery of health care in the United States and the issue has appeared periodically on the national agenda ever since (Lepore, 2009). Finally, on March 23, 2010, among massive controversy, the Affordable Care Act, through the massive efforts of the Obama administration, became law.

Despite the passing of the Affordable Care Act, health care in the United States remains dismal for a large percentage of American citizens. Although there were a number of significant provisions in the Act that took effect nearly…

Social, Cultural, And Political Influence in Healthcare Delivery

Social, cultural, and political inequalities are detrimental to the health and healthcare system of the U.S. This is because the U.S. is one of the most multicultural, overpopulated, diverse and undergoing rapid economic growth. The federal government has embarked on efforts geared at addressing unsustainable costs of health care in the U.S. With the leadership of the current president, Barrack Obama, initiatives of containing health care costs will evaluate and explore strategies to contain the growing costs of health care based on a system-wide while enhancing the value and quality of health care (Ubokudom, 2012). The apparent system of health care is rife with opportunities of minimizing waste, delivering coordinated, effective care, and improving well-being and health of all Americans. The government in collaboration with care providers must prioritize cost effective containment strategies with the greatest possibility for political success and non-partisan…

The flip side is that, if the legislation were to pass and become law, a person who was irreparably harmed by a doctor's malpractice may not be able to get all the money they deserve. Someone could have a life-altering problem due the doctor's malpractice, but the damages they would receive wouldn't make up for the cost of what the injured person has to deal with for the rest of their life.

What has happened in Tennessee is that the two sides are trying to strike a deal using Senate ill 1347 sponsored by Senator Joe Haynes of Goodlettsville. The bill has become known as the Sorry Works! Pilot Program. (http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/ILL/S1347.pdf)

The bill would allow some hospitals and nursing homes apologize for any mistakes made in the deliverance of care to a patient if they offer what is called a "fair settlement" to patients or their survivors. The hope is…

egardless of how one defines productivity, it is clear that one cannot be productive at work if one is not at work.

Human resources

Of course, not all professional development is geared at reducing the impact of work-related stressors, but the reality is that that successful professional development should help relieve stress. In fact, professional development is considered a key element of establishing a healthy nursing work environment. According to the Florida Center for Nursing, professional development is one of the twelve essential elements of a healthy work environment. (Florida Center for Nursing, 2006). Obviously, a company's human resources department determines its policies regarding continuing education, including whether a company will offer in-office opportunities for continuing education, whether a company will pay for professional development, and whether nurses will be given time off in order to pursue continuing education. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of human resources…

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High health care costs are another problem associated with American health care. eporter Curl continues, "Mr. Bush said competitive forces in the marketplace - primarily by giving Americans more choice - is the best method for bringing down health care costs. Another way is to give people who can't afford health care access to facilities other than emergency rooms and hospitals" (Curl A04). However, if the government does provide other facilities, ultimately these costs will be born by the taxpayers. As a health care crisis continues among the elderly, the poor, and the uninsured, the government will continue to create more of these facilities, and costs will continue to mount. If that is the case, it seems simpler to nationalize the entire system, allowing everyone to enjoy the same, high level of care, rather than creating special facilities dedicated to the poor and the uninsured who cannot afford health…

Personal Response

There does not appear to be a "chicken little" quality involved in the resources reviewed; indeed, the statistics cited make it abundantly clear that the healthcare profession is in big trouble today and things are going to get worse before they get better in the future. Indeed, the authors of the resources reviewed did not pull any punches in their portrayal of the impact that the current and impending nursing shortage is going to have on the profession and on the quality of healthcare services in the future. Furthermore, it was apparent from the review that the implications of a growing shortage for the nursing profession itself were severe, but none of the authors emphasized just how difficult it is to be a nurse today.

Notwithstanding the popular perception of professional nurses in clean scrubs delivering timely medical care, the harsh reality of the situation is that nurses…

(ACS Publication June 2006 A Growing Crisis In Patient Access to Emergency Surgical Care at (http://www.facs.org/ahp/emergcarecrisis.pdf)

Statement of Problem

There is a growing problem in the ability of individuals and communities to receive care, according to the American College of Surgeons, as the changing face of emergency care and medical care in general is putting patients at risk. The ACS and the AMA have both recently conducted professional surveys that indicate that the source of the problem is a lack of specialized surgical providers to cover existing trauma centers and a lack of those same staff members to help to establish new centers of care in areas, with the lowest numbers of provider services. (ACS Publication June 2006 A Growing Crisis In Patient Access to Emergency Surgical Care at (http://www.facs.org/ahp/emergcarecrisis.pdf)

The ACS Publication A Growing Crisis In Patient Access to Emergency Surgical Care stresses that the existing system is not…

Compliance Manager

THE COMPANY OVERSEER

Compliance Manager in the Healthcare Industry

Job Description

The Compliance Manager oversees compliance throughout the healthcare company as an objective and independent function (ACHE, 2012). He makes sure that the board of directors, the management and all the employees thoroughly comply with the rules and regulations of regulatory agencies; that the company policies and procedures are completely followed; and the behavior in the organization follows its standards of conduct. His office receives and endorses compliance matters and issues to the appropriate person or office for investigation and implementation or resolution. It is also the final internal resource to deal with when all formal channels and resources have been exhausted. The Compliance Manager or Officer is a member of the staff of the CEO and the oard of Trustee's Corporate Compliance Committee. He monitors and reports the results of the compliance actions and provides guidance and…

Patient Safety in the Medical Environment

Medicines cure various infectious conditions, avert chronic diseases issues, and alleviate pain. However, an incorrect dosage and usage of drugs could invite negative effects. Errors from incorrect medicine usage are unavoidable and can happen at home, doctor's place, pharmacies, or even at hospitals. Such erroneous activities are one of the prime triggers behind paediatric patients experiencing iatrogenic injuries. Triggers of such medication errors, as put forward by studies, include lack of adequate knowledge, work pressure, lack of awareness that such errors exist, and insufficient training. Avoiding such errors is a clinical and government necessity. Some strategies that have been employed to lower recurrences of such errors include better input from clinical pharmacists, changes in system by using critical incident analysis and using information technology (Simpson, Lynch, Grant, & Alroomi, 2004). This paper looks into two major healthcare system failures, how to lower and avoid…

Healthcare Administration

isk Involved in Poor Chart Documentation: An Overview in Total Quality Management

Poor chart documentation in the behavioral health field is a concern for risk management and a critical area for total quality improvement. Poor chart documentation can lead to an audit by accrediting bodies and in severe circumstances lead to discharge. There are many legal ramifications associated with poor chart documentation. This paper will highlight the importance of poor chart documentation, the consequences of poor documentation, and suggest possible tools for resolving documentation errors. The best tool for eliminating chart documentation risk is developing a risk management system appropriate to the health care setting.

Poor chart documentation costs behavioral health providers thousands of dollars in malpractice costs every year. Errors related to chart documentation can be severe; a patient can suffer an untimely death for example. In fact, statistical evidence suggests that each year thousands of patients…

Mcardie Estate v. Cox case, by providing a case summary, comparison of exclusive professional practice scope and right to health care professionals' title, and protections for healthcare workings abiding by practice standards.

Malpractice and neglect are perhaps the aspects most carefully covered by healthcare policymakers. Healthcare law may be considered distinctive in the legal sphere, as it is one subdivision that affords numerous scholarship approaches a chance to succeed (Jocelyn, et.al, 2002). Healthcare law is an interdisciplinary and dynamic domain, with numerous legal, scientific, economic, social, political and philosophical grounds for its dynamism.

Case Summary

McArdie Estate v. Cox was an appellate court case. Gastroplasty reversal surgery was performed on the deceased patient on 26th June, 1995. Gastroplasty refers to a weight-loss tactic of stapling the stomach; the patient in question had two staple lines across her tummy. She was made aware of the fact that, in view of her…

arises due to the fact of how the primary perpetrator obtained the use of the motor vehicle involved throughout the fact pattern is any possible liability imposed upon the young man's parents. The young man involved took the car apparently without the permission of his parents and, therefore, unless it can be demonstrated that the parents had reason to believe that their child might drive the car without permission there is little likelihood that vicarious liability can be attached to the parents (Glannon, 2010). Any torts that occur once the child takes the vehicle without the permission of the parents will attach to the child and not to either of his parents.

The next possible torts arise as the young man arrives at his girlfriend's house. At this point, the young man has committed essentially two intentional torts (Vandeveide, 1990). First, he has intentionally assaulted his girlfriend's father by attempting…

Legal esearch and Application

Should there be caps on legal awards against organizations or practitioners? What are the pros and cons of limiting civil monetary awards?

There are a number of tort reforms that are being promoted among the fifty states regarding caps on punitive damages. The purpose of these caps is to ensure that "defendants will be held liable for no more than their fair share of responsibility for a plaintiff's injuries" and putting the rest of damages sought by plaintiffs on the "collateral sources such as health insurance" (Cohen, 2006, p. 1). Such reform would reduce the treatment provider's risk of being completely ruined by a plaintiff's lawsuit and provide that some of the risk of malpractice be assumed by other agencies connected to health care provision. This would be a pro-for defendants (health care providers) but a con for patient plaintiffs who would be required to seek…

The text by Neville & Lokuge (2006) reports to the evolving status of this question since the rash of birth defects caused in the 1970s by the Thalidomide drug. These events would give way to what Neville & Lokuge call a 'novel' legal question. Its novelty, the article suggests, may be the primary reason that courts of have decided with inconsistency how best to address 'wrongful life' and 'wrongful birth' cases. Accordingly, the article reports that "courts have endeavoured to be careful in recognising and awarding damages in novel areas of law, such as "wrongful birth" and "wrongful life." The High Court of Australia has recently given judgment in both kinds of action: in 2003 allowing a claim for wrongful birth (Cattanach v Melchior), but in May 2006 disallowing two separate claims for wrongful life (Harriton v Stephens and aller v James/aller v Hoolahan)." (Neville & Lokuge, 559)

The research…