The nurse on duty was negligent in attending to the patient who was given a continuous insulin drip and this negligence has brought the patient to the verge of a life threatening situation. Some of the damage to the brain could be irreversible and very difficult to revive. However, the nurse’s intension was not malicious. It is important to determine the factors that led to the nurse’s negligence. The act of negligence has resulted in a traumatic accident for which the nurse is in some way responsible. Poor management practices and overloading the nurse with miscellaneous work could have contributed to the nurse’s negligence ("Malpractice: Overview", 2016).
If the nurse has defended her negligence because of work overload and rush at the 8th hour, there is a need to provide evidence to support this claim. There is a need to ensure that such events will not happen in the future. Ms. Nurse can be sued for malpractice, if evidences suggest that she has been negligent without any propelling reasons. The circumstance under which the accident has happened is important in determining the nurse’s negligence. Failure to do some things that a reasonably prudent person would do in a situation, is called negligence. (Ashley, 2003)
According to the Nurses Code of Ethics, Ms. Nurse has a duty to the patient and his well-being. The nurse is also responsible for beneficence towards the patient or prevention of harm. By being negligent, the nurse has violated nurses code of ethics (American Association of Nurses, 2015). Negligence is handled under civil law. If a person is harmed in another person’s property, the owner of the property can be sued for negligence. In this case, the nurse on duty is responsible for the patient and if the patient is harmed, the nurse can be sued for negligence. The patient can only claim compensation, if the nurse accepts charges of negligence’s filed against her. From the evidences presented in the case study, the plaintiff was able to provide evidence to charge the nurse of negligence.
References
American Association of Nurses,. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. MD: Sliver Springs.
Ashley, R. (2003). Understanding Negligence. Critical Care Nurse, 23(5), 72-73. Retrieved from http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/content/23/5/72.full
Malpractice: Overview. (2016). Ethicalhealthpartnerships.org. Retrieved 20 July 2016, from http://ethicalhealthpartnerships.org/malpracticefactors.html
