Case Analysis Example: Geraldine Bordelon Against Frances Cabrini Hospital

Provide an overview of what the case is about

The case is about Geraldine Bordelon who files a case against Frances Cabrini Hospital, claiming that she suffered from negligent infliction of emotional distress while at the facility. In 1991, the plaintiff, Gerald underwent surgery at Frances Cabrini Hospital. Mrs. Bordelon had provided her blood to the hospital before surgery to be used during that period. However, the Dr. Sudha G. Pillarisetti, the pathologist in charge of her surgery confused the sample blood and gave her somebody else blood during surgery. She suffered severe emotional agony about the probability of contracting diseases such as aids on learning this later. This is what prompted her to file the suit.

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On the other hand, the defendant who is St. Frances Cabrini Hospital could not just sit and watch hence they went on and filed a peremptory exception of no cause of action. The presiding court dismissed Mrs. Bordelon's suit, stating that the plaintiff did not state a cause of action since she failed to claim that she suffered any physical injury. Nonetheless, Bordelon was not satisfied with the ruling of the court and went forward and appealed the case using peremptory exemption as a means of approach. She maintained that she was entitled to bring a cause of action for mental anguish damages, something the defendant was against. In this case, she was right since it is well established in the jurisprudence that a claim for negligent infliction of emotional suffering which is not accompanied by any physical injury is feasible (640 So.2d 476, 1994).

State the year and where the case took place

The case occurred in Louisiana on May 4, 194.

Describe the setting at the time of the case

During this particular period, claims for negligent emotional distress were being experienced all over. At this period, HIV prevalence was increasing, and mistakes like that of Mrs. Bordelon's are fatal to the health of the individual. Three cases had been filed within a period of three years, and the plaintiff had lost all the suits since the emotional distress was unaccompanied with physical injury. Out of the three cases, two of them revolved around the hospital setting although it is not clear if the hospitals were not exercising the required amount of care. For instance, the first case was in 1990 which involved Lejeune v. Rayne Branch Hospital. Mrs Lejeuna's petition claims that Rayo Lejeune, who was her husband, suffered numerous rat bites on his body while he was a patient at Rayne Branch Hospital because of the negligence of hospital staff. She states that she suffered mental anguish after realizing that her husband was eaten alive by rodents when he was in the coma (556 So.2d 559 La.1990).

State the name of the court that deliberated over the case

Louisiana Court of Appeal.

What are the ethical dilemmas in the case study?

In this case, St. Frances Hospital created some ethical dilemmas when they erroneously gave Mrs. Bordelon the wrong blood. First of all, the hospital had a responsibility of providing enough care and making sure that the blood given was hers. Secondly, the staff including the pathologist were not concerned since they were careless toward her care while giving her the wrong blood. Lastly, she eventually did not fail to respect her wishes as to receiving her blood when required during the procedure (Kalvemark et al.2004).

If this case had taken place today, explain what you think the outcome would be and why.

In 1998, the case involving Pitre and Opelousas General Hospital made the Supreme Court conclude that a cause of action occurs in the case of sub judice. As such, if this scenario happens today, I think the hospital will be on the receiving end as it will face both legal and financial consequences. Currently, if a patient suffers from negligent infliction of emotional distress, and later it is concluded that the hospital was behind all this, there will be consequences. In fact, today, HIV prevalence has increased as compared to that time, and this means that if such mistakes are allowed to happen in our hospitals, the chances of contracting the disease are high.

Lastly, discuss why "Courage" is considered the greatest of all virtues (do a quick internet search on the "Seven Virtues").

Other virtues, namely temperance, chastity, diligence, charity, patience, kindness, and humility depend on courage as a basis of their deeds (Farmer, 2008). Have you ever realized that lack of courage hinders the ability of virtue and honesty to climb to greater heights? If there is no courage, honesty is doomed.as a result; courage makes us fair and honest even when we are in stressful situations (Walton, 1987).

References

556 So.2d 559 (La.1990). Lejeune v. Rayne Branch Hospital.

640 So.2d 476 (1994) Geraldine BORDELON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. St. Frances Cabrini Hospital, Defendant-Appellee.

Farmer, W. M. (2008). The seven virtues of simple type theory. Journal of Applied Logic, 6(3), 267-286.

Kalvemark, S., Hoglund, A. T., Hansson, M. G., Westerholm, P., & Arnetz, B. (2004). Living with conflicts-ethical dilemmas and moral distress in the health care system. Social science & medicine, 58(6), 1075-1084.

Walton, D. N. (1987). The Virtue of Courage. Currents in Modern Thought: The Recovery of Virtue.