Nursing Law and Ethics Case Study

Introduction

Yolanda Pinellas, a 21-year-old female, had been admitted to Caring Memorial Hospital for chemotherapy. An administration of Mytomycin led to necrosis of her hand as well as loss of function in some of her fingers. Such an unfortunate series of blunders were due to medical negligence. Pinnellas consequently filed a lawsuit against the hospital. Instances of medical malpractice occur on a regular basis. However, a case like this one could have been avoided (Patterson, Grelsamer, Bronson and Moucha, 2017).

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Defenses of the parties

Several staff members at the hospital were at fault in the case; one of them being Jeffery Chambers, RN- the primary nurse. Given his role in forming a nurse-patient relationship, he takes most of the blame for what happened to the patient. It was his responsibility to look after the patient once he had diagnosed the care to be given to the patient. In Jeffery's defense, he had worked a double shift the day before the incident as a response measure for understaffing issues in his department. Hence, he could present a defense argument that he was suffering from nurse fatigue.

Another party who is to blame for the incident is Carol Price, a licensed practical nurse. She showed negligence when she ignored the IV pump and then failed to report this to her supervisor. LPNs are supposed to conduct patient care under the supervision of a licensed healthcare provider or a registered professional nurse. Also, they are not supposed to administer intravenous anti-neoplastic medications. The fact that she heard the infusion pump beep several times but ignored it is a case of negligence. Perhaps her only defense would involve taking the stand and mentioning the laws stipulated by the nursing board which limits chemotherapy administration for a person of her rank. Scopes of practice for an LPN vary from state to state, meaning that there may be some confusion as to what she can or cannot do (Azzoli, Giaccone and Temin, 2010).

Documents that the plaintiff's side will ask for and how they will be used

One of the documents that the plaintiff's side should ask for is the patient's chart. An RN called Diana Smith responded to the Pinella's call bell and observed that the IV had been dislodged from her vein. There was no proof that the Mitomycin had gotten into the patient's tissues. Smith immediately cut off the IV, alerted the physician, and offered care to the patient's hand. The medical record contained in the patient's chart showed that an infiltration occurred to the IV. It is clear that whatever happened during the incidence was recorded in this chart. Hence, it is one of the exhibits that Pinella's lawyers would produce in court when arguing their case.

The other document is the instruction's manual for the infusion pump known as SAFE-INFUSE. The hospital had been testing this new IV infusion pump. An RN supervisory nurse called Betty DePalma was the one who took the pump off the unit. It is worth bearing in mind that No staff member made note of this pump's serial number since there were six of them being used in the hospital. In addition, there was another brand of pumps being used at the facility known as called Brand X. DePalma also did not note its name or serial number. The instructions manual for these devices would be required to prove whether or not the staff members operating them mishandled them during the incident.

References

Azzoli, C. G., Giaccone, G., & Temin, S. (2010). American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical practice guideline update on chemotherapy for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer. Journal of oncology practice, 6(1), 39-43.

Joseph, N., Clark, R. M., Dizon, D. S., Lee, M. S., Goodman, A., Boruta Jr, D., ... & Growdon, W. B. (2015). Delay in chemotherapy administration impacts survival in elderly patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Gynecologic oncology, 137(3), 401-405.

Kreidieh, F. Y., Moukadem, H. A., & El Saghir, N. S. (2016). Overview, prevention and management of chemotherapy extravasation. World journal of clinical oncology, 7(1), 87.

Patterson, D. C., Grelsamer, R., Bronson, M. J., & Moucha, C. S. (2017). Lawsuits After Primary and Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Malpractice Claims Analysis. JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 25(10), e235-e242.