Please write 300-350 word discussion reply to the following discussion post. Must have 2 peer reviewed sources AND one biblical integration. I will upload needed material.
Instructions: Read The Wrong Body Part simulation, conduct your “interviews,” take notes, and prepare your recommendations
Post you will reply to:
The case Bright Road Hospital is facing is Mr. Price, a patient, is suing the hospital for negligence since they amputated his good leg instead of the diseased leg. Mr. Price claims he went through the prep for surgery with the surgeon, Dr. Gene West, where they identified and initialed the leg that was going to be amputated. However, after the surgery, Mr. Price realized the wrong leg had been amputated and decided to sue the hospital. The medical records indicated that the surgery took place on the 11th of January. During the first meeting with Dr. West, he stated that he performed Mr. Price’s surgery around 5pm. Dr. West also confirmed that Mr. Price had diabetes and injured his leg on a job site thereby contracting a staph infection through an open wound and Mr. Price did not seek immediate medical attention until the infection had spread and the only option was to amputate the leg. According to Dr. West, the standard procedure is before the surgery the patient is examined while being in a stable condition before the surgery. Also, the limbs that are to be amputated are marked and initialed by the surgeon before the patient also initials the surgical site to ensure the marked site is the right place. After initialing the site, a surgical nurse preps the limb that is to be amputated by draping the site and sterilizing it with an antiseptic. Dr. West also stated that prior to the commencement of the surgery, every individual at the operating room table confirms the surgical site about to be operated on is the right site. He further stated that everyone initials the pre-surgical checklist to confirm the surgery is about to performed on the correct body part. Considering all these procedures and policies that are outlined by Dr. West, if these policies and procedures were followed strictly, it would not have led to this lawsuit against Bright Road Hospital because someone would have discovered the wrong leg had been prepped for surgery.
During the interview with Bobbi White, the surgical nurse, she feared being sued personally for her negligence. However, during the second interview where she had been enlightened on the respondeat superior principle, she confirmed what the HR records had shown that she was the surgical nurse on duty and responsible for prepping Mr. Price for the surgery. The surgical nurse however did not check the patient chart at the time she was to prep him resulting in the wrong leg being prepped for surgery. This is a clear act of negligence on the part of the surgical nurse which has resulted in the injury of a patient. Ezra 10:4 says, “Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it” (English Standard Version, 2001). This verse talks about taking all jobs or responsibilities seriously and performing those tasks well. In the case of the surgical nurse, she did not perform her task well and that led to a patient losing his good leg instead of the diseased or infected leg. In terms of liability, Bright Road hospital will be held liable for this because it was through the negligence of its employees that Mr. Price’s good leg was amputated instead of the diseased leg. Luther (2021) argues that the first factor that must be defined in a medical negligence case is a duty to use care, which means that the healthcare professional must provide medical services with a certain degree of care. In Mr. Price’s case, the duty to care was established between Bright Road hospital and Mr. Price since he was admitted to the hospital to undergo a surgical procedure or amputation. However, the negligence of the hospital’s employees led to a breach of the duty to care, that is, the amputation of the wrong leg. Since the nurses and surgeon are all employees of the hospital, the hospital will be held liable for their negligence under Respondeat Superior. Kamensky (2020) argues that under the respondeat superior ideology, an organization may be held liable to a third party for injuries suffered by an employee’s negligence while acting within the context of employment.
In determining whether a patient can file a motion for Res Ispa Loquitur, there are three elements that must be present, that is, it must be proven that the event would have occurred normally in the absence of negligence, the defendant must have had exclusive control over the instrumentality that caused the injury, and the plaintiff must have not contributed to the injury. The event would not have happened if not for the negligent act of removing the patient’s good leg. This cannot be considered as a normal occurrence since the correct leg was clearly marked and initialed by both the patient and the surgeon but after all that the wrong leg was still removed. Also, during the second interview with Dr. West, he confirmed that the hospital staff was in complete control of the instrumentality that led to Mr. Price’s injury because he was already anesthetized. Dr. West confirmed that the operation run smoothly and there were no malfunctions that led to the amputation of the wrong leg or the patient’s injury. Finally, since Mr. Price was presedated, there is no way he could have contributed to his injury, and this was confirmed by the surgical nurse who said Mr. Price was presedated while she was prepping his leg for the surgery. Therefore, looking at all these factors, Mr. Price will be able to file a motion for Res ispa loquitur since all elements necessary for it to be correct are present.
References
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/
Kamensky, S. (2020). Artificial Intelligence and Technology in Health Care: Overview and Possible Legal Implications. DePaul Journal of Health Care Law, 21(3), 3.
Luther, G. W. (2021). The Key Elements of Medical Negligence—Duty. Neurosurgery, 88(6), 1051-1055.
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