Free «The U.S. Legal System – Critical Thinking Question» Essay Sample

Each medical institution sets out its policies and requirements needed for the staff. These policies put in place act as a guideline that directs the office staff in carrying out their duties. The stipulated policies should be accepted everywhere. It is a way of putting the employees under strict supervision to ensure that they meet the requirements of the patients. Such policies also act as a barrier in case a medical practitioner ignores the set guidelines and thereby is legally held accountable for their action. A nurse has a responsibility to acquire assent from the patient before doing symptomatic tests and therapeutic administration. Lack of the obligations nurses have towards patients results in neglect. It is imperative to realize what constitutes medical negligence. There are four basic elements to prove a negligence action in case of any medical insubordination. The paper looks at what makes up a negligence action by relating all the four elements to the provided case.

According to Aiken (2014), nurse misconduct is set on the legal grounds that one can be held personally responsible if it is proved that this misconduct was out of negligence. There are certain aspects that need to be considered to prove the negligence. One of the elements that a medical practitioner must satisfy before filing anything is duty. Duty refers to the obligation that the physician has to a patient, in this case, the duty that the nurse owes to the patient. The main responsibility of the nurse is to ensure that the well-being of his or her patient is their top priority. Taking responsibility of the patient includes following the prescriptions set out by the physician. In this case study, the nurse is ordered by the doctor that medication gets administered to the patient via an indwelling IV. The nurse used an entirely different formula from the one that the doctor had prescribed. It displays the neglect of duty on the part of the nurse. A nurse should be able to follow the treatment that is prescribed by the physician. The nurse’s using of a medication with another formulation led to the patient experiencing cardiac arrest forcing him to undergo more treatment. It put his life in danger, which is enough to sue for negligence (Sloan & Chepke, 2008).

Breach of duty is another element for medical practitioners to prove negligence. There are set out duties that a nurse is supposed to attend to the patient (Zhao, 2013). It refers to the things that a nurse is expected to do to ensure the safety and well-being of the patients. In the given case study, the nurse administered a drug that never got prescribed, which ended up harming the health of the patient. In this case, the nurse breached her part of duty as a medical practitioner. What ought to have been considered in this case is consulting with the doctor before administering any form of medication that has not been authorized. It made the susceptible be sued in court (Zhao, 2013).

Causation is another element that ought to be considered in the identification of negligence. An issue that often surfaces in such cases is whether the patient's harm was inescapable because of his or her prior weakness, therapeutic complexities, mental condition, or advanced age. Litigants frequently contend that a resident's previous wellbeing condition, and not negligence of the nurse, was the genuine reason for the harm asserted in a claim. It is apparent from the given case that the prescription by the doctor was a way of presenting solace to the ailment from which the patient had suffered. Due to the fact that the patient developed cardiac arrest after the medication was offered, the case is considered as negligence. Consequently, the possibility that patient's disorder may have been aggravated as a result of the previous physical or mental condition does not ease the respondent off the duties that she had regarding the patient (Zhao, 2013).