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A patient treated and discharged for pneumonia several times at an ED is later diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Could the ED be successfully sued for failing to test for human immunodeficiency virus?
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As the number of mid-level providers (MLPs) staffing EDs increases, the number of lawsuits involving them is also increasing, reports Jennifer L'Hommedieu Stankus, MD, JD, a medical-legal consultant, former medical malpractice defense attorney, and a senior emergency medicine resident at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque.
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If nursing assessment conflicts with an emergency physician's (EP), the ED nurse should speak privately with the EP about this, advises Mariann Cosby, MPA, MSN, RN, LNCC, principal of MFC Consulting in Sacramento, CA. Document subjective and objective patient data, what was communicated to the EP and other providers, their response, and then the nurses' actions, she recommends.
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Imagine finding a note in your ED patient's chart from a consultant, which recommends care that you believe is totally inappropriate. Should you quietly seethe, or report it to a higher-up?
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Lawsuits for "loss of chance" involving ED care are increasing, reports Jennifer L'Hommedieu Stankus, MD, JD, a medical-legal consultant, former medical malpractice defense attorney, and a senior emergency medicine resident at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque. "This is a tricky legal concept that is gaining in popularity, particularly for things such as failure to offer [tissue plasminogen activator] to patients with acute ischemic stroke," she says.
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Emergency departments tend to be noisy, bright, and intensely focused on patient throughput.
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It's a problem that every ED grapples with: A patient comes in complaining of chronic pain and you give him or her a one-time prescription for a powerful narcotic with instructions to seek comprehensive treatment from a primary care provider (PCP).
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While no one has precise numbers, the practice of human trafficking is hardly limited to third-world countries. In fact, experts maintain it is big business in the United States, with somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people trafficked into the country each year.
