Question

A medical resident admits a patient overnight with uncontrolled blood pressurc. He means to write an order for the angiotensin receptor blocker Diovan at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ once a day. Because of his sloppy handwriting the nurses and pharmacy administer digoxin at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. This is a drug that is rarely used at a dose above $0.5 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. Three days later, the patient develops a hemodynamically unstable rhythm disorder that the resident very sincerely tries to decipher but is unable to until the patient transfers to the intensive care unit. At this point they discover the overdose of digoxin. The patient and the family never discover the overdose. Which of the following most accurately describes this situation? a. There is no liability for the resident because the overdose was unintentional. b. There is no liability for the resident because the pharmacy should have detected the error. c. No liability exists because the error is unknown to the patient. d. No liability exists because it was an accident. e. The resident and hospital are both liable for harm to the patient. f. No liability exists because there was no permanent harm to the patient.

    A medical resident admits a patient overnight with uncontrolled blood pressurc. He means to write an order for the angiotensin receptor blocker Diovan at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ once a day. Because of his sloppy handwriting the nurses and pharmacy administer digoxin at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. This is a drug that is rarely used at a dose above $0.5 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. Three days later, the patient develops a hemodynamically unstable rhythm disorder that the resident very sincerely tries to decipher but is unable to until the patient transfers to the intensive care unit. At this point they discover the overdose of digoxin. The patient and the family never discover the overdose.
Which of the following most accurately describes this situation?
a. There is no liability for the resident because the overdose was unintentional.
b. There is no liability for the resident because the pharmacy should have detected the error.
c. No liability exists because the error is unknown to the patient.
d. No liability exists because it was an accident.
e. The resident and hospital are both liable for harm to the patient.
f. No liability exists because there was no permanent harm to the patient.
Show more…
Medical Ethics for the Boards
Medical Ethics for the Boards
Conrad Fischer 3rd Edition
Chapter 1, Problem 49 ↓

Instant Answer

verified

Step 1

This mistake led to the administration of a wrong drug in a wrong dose to the patient. This is a clear case of negligence on the part of the resident. Secondly, the pharmacy and the nurses also failed to detect the error and administered the wrong drug in a  Show more…

Show all steps

lock
AceChat toggle button
Close icon
Ace pointing down

Please give Ace some feedback

Your feedback will help us improve your experience

Thumb up icon Thumb down icon
Thanks for your feedback!
Profile picture
A medical resident admits a patient overnight with uncontrolled blood pressurc. He means to write an order for the angiotensin receptor blocker Diovan at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ once a day. Because of his sloppy handwriting the nurses and pharmacy administer digoxin at $10 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. This is a drug that is rarely used at a dose above $0.5 \mathrm{mg}$ a day. Three days later, the patient develops a hemodynamically unstable rhythm disorder that the resident very sincerely tries to decipher but is unable to until the patient transfers to the intensive care unit. At this point they discover the overdose of digoxin. The patient and the family never discover the overdose. Which of the following most accurately describes this situation? a. There is no liability for the resident because the overdose was unintentional. b. There is no liability for the resident because the pharmacy should have detected the error. c. No liability exists because the error is unknown to the patient. d. No liability exists because it was an accident. e. The resident and hospital are both liable for harm to the patient. f. No liability exists because there was no permanent harm to the patient.
Close icon
Play audio
Feedback
Powered by NumerAI
Need help? Use Ace
Ace is your personal tutor. It breaks down any question with clear steps so you can learn.
Start Using Ace
Ace is your personal tutor for learning
Step-by-step explanations
Instant summaries
Summarize YouTube videos
Understand textbook images or PDFs
Study tools like quizzes and flashcards
Listen to your notes as a podcast
Continue solving this problem
Create a free account to:
  • View full step-by-step solution
  • Ask follow-up questions with Ace AI
  • Save progress and study later
Continue Free
Numerade

Get step-by-step video solution
from top educators

Continue with Clever
or



By creating an account, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Already have an account? Log In

A free answer
just for you

Watch the video solution with this free unlock.

Numerade

Log in to watch this video
...and 100,000,000 more!


EMAIL

PASSWORD

OR
Continue with Clever