Medical Malpractice: 10,000+ Suits Annually in US Despite Regulation - Essay Sample

Introduction

Over 10,000 malpractice suits against health practitioners are experienced yearly in the US (Medical Malpractice Center Report, 2018). The negligence in the medical sector may occur due to various factors such as improper health management and provision of substandard treatment, which may inflict harm or even leads to a patient's death (Croke, 2003). However, there are Statutory Laws in existence that tend that regulate the practice of nursing in every state to keep the practitioners in regular check(Nursing Practice Act) and determine the standards of care as well (Weld, 2009). There are elements of malpractice may lead to suits of medical professionals, if proven by an attorney:

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Duty

Here the provider owes a person a duty to operate appropriates and in a reasonable manner. And that the provider has to be responsible over specific care to a patient, for example, physician-patient relationship. Duty occurrence can be avoided if there are effective relations and close monitoring between the doctor and the patient.

Breach of Duty

The violation of duty occurs when a practitioner does not provide the patient with quality care by not exercising specific medical skills that otherwise, another provider would offer in the same situation. This normally happens by not following the set standards of care to patients.

Damage

Damage occurs when the specific patient has actually experienced some degree of physical harm or emotional turmoil while under the care of a particular provider. The damage still counts whether new or an escalation of the already existing injury.

Causation

Here there must be valid evidence which indicates that the breach of duty by a practitioner caused harm to the patient, for example, when a physician does not care for a patient having a twisted arm and tell the patient to go home while another practitioner diagnosis and treat the patient.

Conclusion

The elements of malpractice can be avoided from occurring in the future in various ways. The use of E-prescription can help to minimize some of the errors and by preventing the use of drug abbreviations to limit liability risks. Moreover, proper documentation should be made by the physician to help in preventing the risks. Nonetheless, if all the four elements are proven, then there is a possible suit against a specific health provider.

References

Croke, E. M. (2003). Nurses, Negligence, and Malpractice: An analysis based on more than 250 cases against nurses. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 103(9), 54-63. Retrieved from: https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=423284&Journal_ID=54030&Issue

Weld, K. K., & Garmon Bibb, S. C. (2009, January). Concept analysis: malpractice and modernday nursing practice. In Nursing forum (Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 2-10). Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing Inc. Retrived from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19187048