Level one trauma emergency facility standard of care case
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A 20-year-old male patient arrives at a Level One Trauma emergency facility (capable of caring for virtually any emergency). The patient has multiple gunshot wounds and has lost a lot of blood. Examination and stabilization begin immediately, with an emergency room staff physician and several nurses involved. The patient is transferred to an operating room, where surgery began involving a general surgeon, a cardiac surgeon, and several nurses and assistants. The patient dies while on the operating table during surgery. A few months later, the patient's family sues the hospital and all physicians in the case for negligence. You are a hospital administrator looking into the facts of the case. What would you look for to answer each of these questions:
(1) What is the custom-based standard of care for this case?
(2) What is the reasonable physician standard of care in this case?
(3) What effect would EMTALA have on this case?
(4) What informed consent issues might have occurred?
(5) Does the doctrine of res ipsa loquitor apply here?
(6) What questions would you ask in determining whether the physicians used best judgment in this case?
(7) What other questions can you think to ask regarding this case?
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Solution Summary
A 20-year-old male patient arrives at a Level One Trauma emergency facility (capable of caring for virtually any emergency). The patient has multiple gunshot wounds and has lost a lot of blood. Examination and stabilization begin immediately, with an emergency room staff physician and several nurses involved. The patient is transferred to an operating room, where surgery began involving a general surgeon, a cardiac surgeon, and several nurses and assistants. The patient dies while on the operating table during surgery. A few months later, the patient's family sues the hospital and all physicians in the case for negligence. You are a hospital administrator looking into the facts of the case.
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This is an original work and has not been previously published or shared with any other source. This work is to be treated as a guideline to assist you with this assignment. At no time is it intended to be a final submission work and I discourage you from using it as such. Points made and topics discussed in this work should be researched further and validated by the student prior to utilizing it in their own work which will be complied for final submission to their schools.
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What would you look for to answer each of these questions:
(1) What is the custom-based standard of care for this case?
Standards of care guide medical practice and can be used to evaluate performance. Unfortunately, there is a direct and dynamic relationship between physicians' reactions to the increase in malpractice litigation and an elevation of the legal standard of care. Physicians are forced to practice "defensive medicine" in order to avoid being held by the new community standard as being negligent. This practice method, in turn, elevates the reasonable standard even higher creating a never ending 'cover yourself' path of medical practice.
In this case, as the evidence is presented, the custom-based standard of care appears to have been met since the emergency staff followed proper procedure of examination to determine the extent of the wounds and stabilization prior to transferring the patient to an operating room.
It would be prudent to determine if the custom-based standard of care was met beyond the ER by ensuring the proper ...
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