Hospital Falls Are Not Always the Healthcare Provider's Fault, Or Are They? by Amanda Trujillo, MSN, RN:"In April of 2005 Mr. William Delk was a patient at Reid Hospital in Indiana when he fell while seated on a rolling commode in the bathroom. Mr. Delk had recently been a victim of a stroke that left him with complete left sided hemiparesis. He had been readmitted with complications associated with the stroke that were described as "a headache and numbness on the left side of his body." (Tammelleo, 2011) According to the case notes William was a rather large man and coupled with the injury from the stroke he was difficult to move. There were usually two to three people recruited to help move him." http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing/clinical.cases/2012.08.18.hospital.falls.htm
May 30, 1999: Patient Left Unrestrained, Patient Injured. Nurses Judgement Call
The decision to use or not use restraints
must be made with caution and good judgement. Their intended purpose must be to protect either the patient or others who may be injured by the patient including the staff caring for the client. The ultimate determination of necessity is left with the physician. Often, the moment to moment necessity is determined by the nurse. In this case a nurse did not feel restraining
the patient was necessary. When an injury occurred, the patient sued.
Gerard v. Sacred Heart Medical Center - 937 P. 2d 1104 (1997)
May 23, 1999: Sponge Count Off, Patient Develops Sepsis, Surgeon Blames Nurse. Sponge Counts are a basic and critical safety measure
during a surgical operation. In this case, the standard three counts
were not performed. A sponge was left in the patient that would later
lead to infection. When the issue went to court, the surgeon claimed
"it was not his responsibility" to keep track of the sponges.
Johnston v. Southwest Louisiana Assn. 693 So. 2d 1195 –LA (1997)
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