Negligence Paper
Cheri Schultz
University of Phoenix
Health Law and Ethics
HSC/478
Francis Mieczkowski, Jr.
October 22, 2011
Negligence Paper
Negligence Paper
health care providers have a responsibility to provide competent and safe care to his or her patients. When patient care is compromised or the patient does not have a successful medical outcome, sometimes the legal system becomes involved. It is important to be aware of the terms negligence, gross negligence, and malpractice because they are often misunderstood. Each legal term will be defined in an effort to distinguish the difference between them. Application of negligence and malpractice will be applied through review of a newspaper article entitled, “Amputation mishap; negligence.” Effective documentation leaves no room for liability of the health care provider. After review of this paper, it is hopeful that the reader will understand the meanings of negligence, gross negligence, malpractice, and how to chart effectively in a patient’s medical record.
Negligence
Standards of care have been created by state and federal agencies and health care licensing boards. These standards provide for the minimal requirement of skill and knowledge that define an acceptable level of patient care. When health care providers
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fail to provide competent care to his or her patients, they may be found guilty of negligence. Guido (2010) defines negligence as a general term that denotes conduct lacking in due care. Negligence equates with carelessness, a deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would use in a particular set of circumstances (p. 92).
Negligence may also include doing something that the reasonable and prudent person would not do. As such, anyone, including nonmedical persons can be liable for negligence. For example, the health care provider receives a report back from a pathologist that a referral to a specialist should be considered for follow-up. The provider fails to provide the referral. Time elapses, the patient dies, and later it is revealed that an earlier referral for surgical resection could have saved the patients life (Boyd, 2009).
Since negligence has been defined gross negligence will be defined, which is more complicated.
Gross negligence
There is more involved with gross negligence. Gross negligence involves a negligent act of which the medical provider is aware of the extreme risk involved for the patient, but does not care about the safety of the patient and proceeds with the procedure anyway. Health care providers can be prosecuted and found guilty of manslaughter because of fatal errors they have committed. Gross negligence can be proven by circumstantial evidence (Quick, 2006).
If a health care provider is found guilty of either negligence or gross negligence, he or she can be liable for malpractice.
Malpractice
The word malpractice generally refers to a professional person who is a lawyer, accountant, physician, or nurse. Guido (2010) defines malpractice as any professional misconduct, unreasonable lack of skill, or fidelity in professional or judiciary duties. Malpractice is the failure of a professional person to act in accordance with the prevailing professional standards or failure to foresee consequences that a professional person, the necessary skills and education should foresee (p. 93).
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Moreover, this wrong or injudicious treatment results in injury, unnecessary suffering, or death to the injured party, and proceeds from ignorance, carelessness, want of proper professional skill, disregard of established rules and principles, neglect, or a malicious or criminal intent (Guido, 2010).
An example of gross malpractice may involve a medical provider leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient’s body. Another example of gross malpractice would be the newspaper example below. When a provider is found guilty of negligence, gross negligence, or a medical malpractice suit, he or she may also find themselves answering questions to the appropriate licensing board. Licensing boards often launch investigations in which the provider may lose their license, be placed on probation, etc.
Amputation Mishap Agreement or Disagreement
In The Neighborhood newspaper this week, Lowell wrote about a 62-year-old gentleman, Joseph Benson who recovered from surgery only to find his surgeon amputated the wrong leg (University of Phoenix, 2011).
This is a case of gross negligence. The physician is held to the standards of practice care. The medical facility, the physician, and nurses must follow safety procedures, which would include marking the leg to be amputated. In this case, standards of care were not followed, and the physician can be found guilty of gross negligence and medical malpractice.
Importance of Documentation
Many medical providers may face being sued for medical malpractice in his or her career. A medical malpractice suit can be a source of anxiety in a provider’s personal and professional lives. Concise, clear, timely, and complete documentation is the medical provider’s best defense (Ornstein & Baum, 2010).
Documenting tips include: making entries, even if it is a late entry, never chart in advance, use clear and objective language, when charting be factual, charting only his or her observations, chart refusal of care, chart patient education, correct charting errors, never alter a record for someone else, identify after every entry, and use standardized checklists (Guido, 2010).
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Documentation is the only voice of the medical provider in a courtroom.
Conclusion
Providing health care services to patients involves use of critical thinking, medical knowledge, skillful hands, and extreme responsibility to the care and safety of the patient. When something goes wrong medically, medical providers can find themselves guilty of negligence, gross negligence, and medical malpractice. Providers may lose his or her medical license if found guilty. In some cases, an independent review from the licensing board may result in a loss of license, even if the provider is not found guilty in the courtroom. Therefore, it is important that medical providers prudently document. Documentation must be concise, clear, timely, and complete documentation is the medical provider’s best defense in a court of law. Even though care may have been excellent, in a court of law care not documented is care not provided. If there is no documentation, there is no evidence.
References
Boyd, T. (2009), AvMA Medical & Legal Journal. Common issues in general practice
negligence. Clinical Risk, 15(2), 72-75. Retreived from www.cinahl.com/cgi-
bin/refsvc?jid=2405&accno=201026510
Guido, G.W. (2010).
Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing (5th ed.).
Upper Saddle River,
NJ:Prentice Hall. Available from University of Phoenix Student and Faculty
website.
Ornstein, H., & Baum, N. (2010).
Avoiding malpractice. Podiatry Management, 29(3),
53-54. Retrieved from www.cinahl.com/cgi-n/refsvc?jid=993&accno=2010596210
Quick, O. (2006).
Prosecuting “Gross” Medical Negligence: Manslaughter, Discretion,
and the Crown Prosecution Service. Journal of Law and Society, 33(3), 421-450
doi: 10.111/j.1467-6478.2006.00365.x
University of Phoenix. (2011).
Amputation mishap, negligence cited. Retrieved from
University of Phoenix, HSC478 website.
