Health care providers have a responsibility to provide competent and safe care to their patients. When patient care is compromised or the patient does not have a successful medical outcome, sometimes the legal system becomes involved. It is important to be aware of the terms negligence, gross negligence, and malpractice because they are often misunderstood. This paper attempts to provide a definition of each legal term in an effort to distinguish the difference between each term Application of negligence and malpractice will be applied through review of a newspaper article entitled, “Amputation mishap; negligence.
” Effective documentation leaves no room for liability of the health care provider. After review of this paper, it is hopeful that the reader will feel well informed of the meanings of negligence, gross negligence, and malpractice and how to effectively chart in a patient’s medical record. Negligence Standards of care have been created by state and federal agencies and health care licensing boards. These standards provide for the minimal requirement of skill and knowledge that define an acceptable level of patient care.
When health care providers fail to provide competent care to their patients, they may be found guilty of negligence. Guido (2010) defines negligence as, “A general term that denotes conduct lacking in due care. Negligence equates with carelessness, a deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would use in a particular set of circumstances. ” For example, the healthcare provider receives a report back from a pathologist that a referral to a specialist should be considered for follow-up. The provider fails to provide the referral.
Time elapses, the patient dies, and later it is revealed that an earlier referral for surgical resection could have saved the patients life (Boyd 2009). Now that we have defined negligence, let’s take a look at gross negligence, which is much more complicated. Gross negligence There is much more involved with gross negligence. Gross negligence involves a negligent act of which the medical provider is aware of the extreme risk involved for the patient, but does not care about the safety of the patient and proceeds with the procedure anyways.
Health care providers can be prosecuted and found guilty of manslaughter due to fatal errors they have committed. Gross negligence can be proven by circumstantial evidence. (Quick, 2006). If found guilty of either negligence or gross negligence, a health provider can be liable for malpractice. Malpractice The word malpractice generally refers to a professional person who is a lawyer, accountant, physician, or nurse. Guido (2010) defines malpractice as: Any professional misconduct, unreasonable lack of skill, or fidelity in professional or judiciary duties.
Malpractice is the failure of a professional person to act in accordance with the prevailing professional standards or failure to foresee consequences that a professional person, having the necessary skills and education, should foresee (p. 93). An example of gross malpractice may involve a medical provider leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient’s body. Another example of gross malpractice would be the newspaper example below.
When a provider is found guilty of negligence, gross negligence, or a medical malpractice suit, he or she may also find themselves answering questions to the appropriate licensing board. Licensing boards often launch investigations, in which the provider may lose their license, be placed on probation, etc. Amputation Mishap Agreement or Disagreement In The Neighborhood newspaper this week, Lowell wrote about a 62-year-old gentleman, Joseph Benson who recovered from surgery only to find his surgeon amputated the wrong leg (University of Phoenix, 2011).
This is a case of gross negligence. The physician is held to the standards of practice care. The medical facility, the physician, and nurses must follow safety procedures, which would include marking the leg to be amputated. In this case, standards of care were not followed and the physician can be found guilty of gross negligence and medical malpractice. Importance of Documentation Many medical providers may face being sued for medical malpractice in their career. A medical malpractice suit can be a great source of anxiety in a provider’s personal and professional life.
Concise, clear, timely, and complete documentation is the medical provider’s best defense (Ornstein & Baum, 2010). Documenting tips include: making entries, even if it is a late entry, never chart in advance, use clear and objective language, be factual, only chart your observations, chart refusal of care, chart patient education, correct charting errors, never alter a record for someone else, identify after every entry, and use standardized checklists (Guido, 2010). Documentation is the only voice of the medical provider in a court room.
Conclusion Providing health care services to patients involves use of critical thinking, medical knowledge, skillful hands, and extreme responsibility to the care and safety of the patient. When something goes wrong medically, medical providers can find themselves guilty of negligence, gross negligence, and medical malpractice. Providers may lose their medical license if found guilty. In some cases, an independent review from the licensing board may result in a loss of license, even if the provider is not found guilty in the court room.
Therefore, it is important that medical providers prudently document, document, document. Documentation must be concise, clear, timely, and complete documentation is the medical provider’s best defense in a court of law.
References Boyd, T. (2009), AvMA Medical & Legal Journal. Common issues in general practice negligence. Clinical Risk, 15(2), 72-75. Retreived from www. cinahl. com/cgi-bin/refsvc? jid=2405&accno=2010265102 Guido, G. W. (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing (5th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Available from University of Phoenix Student and Faculty website. Ornstein, H. , & Baum, N. (2010). Avoiding malpractice. Podiatry Management, 29(3), 53-54. Retrieved from www. cinahl. com/cgi-bin/refsvc? jid=993&accno=2010596210 Quick, O. (2006). Prosecuting “Gross” Medical Negligence: Manslaughter, Discretion, and the Crown Prosecution Service. Journal of Law and Society, 33(3), 421-450. doi: 10. 111/j. 1467-6478. 2006. 00365. x University of Phoenix. (2011). Amputation mishap, negligence cited. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HSC478 website.