Negligence and Malpractice in Health Care

Negligence & Malpractice in Health Care

All adults that are competent, are legally responsible for their own actions whether at work or in their personal lives. In the health care profession, physicians and nurses must be competent in their skills and stay within their scope of practice while upholding the best standards of care possible. When health care professionals make errors, fatal injuries can occur. In the Online Neighborhood a patient underwent a left below the knee amputation, when he should have had a right below the knee amputation. According to Ring, Herndon, & Meyer (2010), 68 percent of claims are related to wrong-site injury by orthopedic surgeons. These surgical errors are caused from negligence, gross negligence, and malpractice resulting in general, special, emotional, and or exemplary damages. This paper will discuss the differences between negligence and malpractice along with the importance of documentation so as to satisfy ethical and legal requirements.

The Difference between Negligence and Malpractice

Negligence is a term sometimes used interchangeably with malpractice but is defined as the "failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances," (Weld & Garmon Bibb, 2009). The term gross negligence is used to describe actions of carelessness used in such a way that it violates other people's rights to safety. It is just shy of being intentionally evil (The Free Dictionary, n.d.). To be liable for malpractice, the person committing the error or wrong doing must be a professional such as a nurse or a physician. Malpractice is defined as professional misconduct or the lack of a skill resulting in some sort of injury, unnecessary suffering, or death (Weld & Garmon Bibbs, 2009; Guido, 2010). The professional person does not act in accordance with the standards and fails to foresee the consequences that someone with the same training should be able to foresee (Guido, 2010). The physician that amputated the wrong leg in the online neighborhood was grossly negligent and could be sued for malpractice.

Negligence Cited

The title given for the newspaper article "Amputation mishap, negligence cited" isn't necessarily the best description of the error that took place. Based on the aforementioned definitions of what gross negligence and malpractice, this article fits into both of the descriptions. A professional person, the physician, is trained to perform the skill of surgery, or in this case to amputation. It is assumed that this physician is competent in this skill because in order to be hired into a facility, proof of education and residency must be given and performed under supervision. This physician consciously made the error of amputating the left leg instead of the right leg thereby breaching the contract of guaranteeing a specific therapeutic result (Weld & Garmon Bibb, 2009).

This surgical error would have all of the elements necessary for a malpractice suit. The physician owed the duty of care to the patient by consenting to perform the amputation for this patient. The physician is then required to take precautions against creating harm and unnecessary risks for the patient. Substandard care was provided by removing the opposite leg not agreed upon to have amputated, therefore breaching the duty owed to the patient. Amputation of one leg was expected, but because the left leg was removed instead of the right, foreseeability proves that certain events are expected, however, the issue of poor circulation in the right leg isn't being addressed leaving the same problem at hand coupled with leaving the patient to heal from the first amputation. This breach of duty is the causation of the injury to healthy tissue and the loss of the wrong limb. The actual injury caused physical, financial, and emotional injury to this patient, which would entitle this patient to general, special, emotional, and most likely exemplary damages.

Importance of Documentation

Documentation is a way to write information that is proof or support of something that has been done or observed and provides crucial legal protection. If something is not documented, it was not done. Documentation should be clear, concise, and to the point while being readable and the signatures identifiable (Bargaje, 2011). A patient's medical record is admissible in court. Courts review the documentation in the medical chart as proof and verification to patient care. It is only with good documentation that can help to protect a health care provider legally. In malpractice cases, jurors usually review the medical record to be the best evidence of what was done or not done. If a physician or other health care provider acted negligently and their charting truthfully reflects the care