Medical Malpractice

Medical Malpractice

            Medical malpractice cases occur when physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel fail to provide the proper and precise medical treatment to patients at the given time, which may cause harm, injury, or even death in health care. There have been reported cases of medical malpractice in hospitals worldwide, which have made patients question their trust in health care providers. The framework of the paper explains a medical malpractice case, the cause of the malpractice, and avoidance of malpractice in the future.

An example of a medical malpractice case was the death of 18-month-old Josie King at the John Hopkins Hospital in 2008. She had suffered a second-degree burn from climbing into a hot bath tap while at home. She was rushed to the John Hopkins hospital, and after several weeks of treatment, she had recovered and was well to go back home in two weeks before her death (Niedowski, 2003). The nurses assured her mother that she was fine to sleep at home after three weeks under intensive care. However, the administration of more narcotics and dehydration led to her death, even after an order had been placed not to administer more narcotics.

From the case, malpractices through errors such as misdiagnosis and negligence, led to the death of Josie King. Firstly, Josie had been dehydrated, and the doctor missed the sign to administered more water to her bloodstream, even after her mother saw the signs through her screaming for drinks. Secondly, nurses and doctors missed a hospital-acquired infection, which contributed to her death. Also, the administration of inappropriate methadone by a nurse even after being warned by Josie’s mother of the order changed shows the highest level of negligence in health care institutions that cause harm for patients (Raveesh et al. 2016). Therefore, miscommunication, neglect, and misdiagnosis between the caregivers contributed to Josie’s death..

Avoidance of malpractice can be done effectively through various steps. First, there should be better communication between physicians and nurses in health care. Poor communication results in errors and such can be avoided by giving the correct instruction to the subordinates in the hospital (White, 2016). Communication should also be valid between the providers and the patients or the family members present while making specific decisions for the patient. Secondly, computerized systems through health informatics reduce malpractices such as wrong medication. With patients’ medical data available for all health care providers, there are minimal errors likely to occur (White, 2016). Finally, the following medical guidelines during patient treatment is essential. Therefore, following the standards installed by the hospital and health care associations reduces cases of malpractices, which result in most errors. Therefore, such preventive measures can be enforced to ensure future malpractices are avoided.

Conclusively, malpractices in health care cause more damage to the patient and their families. Cases of malpractices in health care should be identified, and the correct measures such as efficient communication, adherence to standard medical guidelines, and use of health informatics followed to avoid negligence and misdiagnosis of the patients. Therefore, avoidance of such malpractices reduces cases of lawsuits, which may damage the reputation of the hospital and other efficient health care providers.

References

Niedowski, E. (2003). Baltimore Sun – How medical errors took a little girl’s life. Baltimoresun.com. Retrieved from https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-te.sorrel14dec14-story.html.

Raveesh, B. N., Nayak, R. B., & Kumbar, S. F. (2016). Preventing medico-legal issues in clinical practice. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 19 (Suppl 1), S15.

White, J. (2016). 5 strategies for hospitals to prevent medical errors. Healthcarebusinesstech.com. Retrieved from http://www.healthcarebusinesstech.com/medical-error-prevent/.