Day 3 9.18.18
Tort o A civil wrong o Negligence is a sort of tort When trying to get a lawsuit, you have to have 'standing' meaning that the act has to have happened to you o You can't bring on a lawsuit that's happened to other people Sometimes, physicians and nurses administer wrong medication because: o They're short staffed -> most often : If you don't have enough time and a lot of patients, you're going to make errors In order to make money, hospitals reduce the number of nurses These nurses are underappreciated and underpaid o They're tired or lazy They're sleep deprived PDR o Physicians Desk Reference They have pictures of the drugs so you can see what drugs you're supposed to be taking Surgical procedures without patient's consent - Informed Consent Sometimes surgeons might remove the wrong leg, the wrong kidney, etc. Failures Failure to take proper assessment Failure to administer proper drugs Because of this, physicians often perform overkill because they don't want to be sued for being careless and not doing what they were supposed to do Proximate cause or causation o The damages incurred need to be linked to the negligence o How is this proven? : An expert testimony presumably in the same field and that person has to testify to the standard of care There needs to be deviation from good care and accepted practice States will hold people with special skills to a higher standard : i.e. Registered Nurses, Nurse practitioner, etc Duty of Care o People have a duty of care for almost every position : As a parent -> take care of children
: As a physician -> take care of patients
Order o Court of Appeals o Appellate o Supreme Court Cases where there isn't a physician-patient relationship o When you get an examination for an insurance policy o When the school nurse is treating a student o There's no duty here because the physician is working with the insurance Critical care o 1-2 nurses per patient Negligence o Foreseeability is important
know how to deal with it
: They should have reasonably foreseen the damages False Imprisonment o Example of an intentional tort o Unlawful restraint or confinement of someone o You must be aware of the confinement and have no reasonable means of esca