Essay Sample on Liability Issues in Nursing

Introduction

It is very vital for a nurse to keep track and documentation of the management of a patient under their care. Maintaining health records has advanced as a science of its own, it is the only way that the nurse can verifies that care was adequately taken. Medical records provide an excellent avenue for patient management, help the national planning strategies for future medical care, and most importantly it helps as evidence in the issue of suspected medical neglect (Thomas, 2009). If the nurse in the case study would have appropriately documented the actions she took during the critical two hours of the patient it would have helped her defend against the malpractice lawsuit; the documentation should be complete, timely and correct (Guido, 2010). Timing is everything in the documentation, waiting too long portrays that the nurse relies on their memory, which can be inaccurate and incomplete. Thus, the outcome of the case would have shifted the blame from the nurse if she had kept her records timely.

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The outcome of a malpractice trial always boils down to who the jury believes the most if for some reason the nurse's evidence is not believable the panel will accept the patient's testimony. The nurse did act negligently; her lack of documentation denies her the only proof to that could have helped her avoid the court case in the first place. The nurse would have documented all the patients' details during the period she assessed the patient and accompany all the documentation with her initials, time and date. She should have also kept her handwritten notes safely and well signed to help prove her evidence to the jury. Therefore, this case would have been decided in favor of the patient since there is no convincing evidence that the nurse took the measures that she claimed to have taken. There is a lot of contradiction of testimonies amid" the patient's hospital nurse, the office nurse's and the physician's justification." Therefore the person who is most responsible for the outcome is the hospital's nurse.

Professional liability insurance insures a healthcare professional for miscalculations arising from his/her practice, the policies stated pay defense costs and cover claims for medical neglect or mistakes (Boone, 2000). Limitation of liability limits the amount of liability the medical professional will be responsible for in case a problem arises during practice. "In this case, the limits of the policy are $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate. " The declaration sections describe the who, what, where, when and how in the agreements. These are the basic facts on which the policy is issued; this section is the policyholder's name, Judy Doe, a registered nurse whose coverage period is between may 1 2008 and April 30, 2009, and all the essential facts that appear at the beginning of the policy (Guido, 2010).

The policy has no Deductibles. However, the policy limits cost of bail bonds in case of traffic violations or accidents to $250 while reasonable expenses incurred during court proceeding not to exceed $25 per day. In the exclusion section, the policy does not work if the insured is a proprietor, superintendent or executive office among others stated in the section. In the conditions section, the policy states precisely state the Reservation of rights of the policyholder. Covered injuries are well stated in the coverage - individual professional liability section. Finally, Defense costs, Coverage conditions, and supplementary payments in the insurance policy and are combined in the supplementary payments section. Some of the parts are not explicitly stated, or there are combined with other section hence they are not precise and are subject to misinterpretation. However, the policy covers most of the requirements in a professional insurance policy hence an ideal coverage for own liability.

Conclusion

Mistakes are inevitable even with" the best clinicians, professional liability insurance or errors & omissions is one of the most significant coverages for nursing homes," and assisting facilities that cover nursing homes and its caregivers' professional liabilities in the events of a lawsuit. Thus, errors and omissions insurance is a vital policy that covers professional in the nursing home in case of any malpractice (Morgan, 2014). In this case, if the nursing home insurance company had such as a policy, it is, therefore, liable to pay the claim. To some level, the case was a professional judgment issue. However, the judgment was due to an unexpected heat wave that was beyond the administrator's professional scope, and therefore this case cannot be categorized under professional liability insurance. If the heat wave were a common occurrence that the administrator had ignored, she would have been liable for the claim; however, in this case, it was an unexpected occurrence. The nursing home insurance company should pay the court judgment since its insurance covers any form of misjudgment in case of faulty nursing home equipment.

Reference

Boone, B. (2000, September). Basic Issues in Your Hospital Professional Liability Form. Retrieved March 9, 2018, from https://www.irmi.com/articles/expert-commentary/basic-issues-in-your-hospital-professional-liability-form

Guido, G. W. (2010). Legal & ethical issues in nursing. Boston: Pearson.

Morgan, C. (2014, August 22). Professional Liability Insurance for Nursing Homes / Assisted Living Facilities. Retrieved March 9, 2018, from Caitlin Morgan Insurance Services: https://www.caitlin-morgan.com/professional-liability-insurance-nursing-homes-assisted-living-facilities/

Thomas, J. (2009). Medical records and issues in negligence. Indian J Urol, 384-388.