After reviewing the case I have come to a decision to report to head legal councillor Jeff Passmore. With respect to the incident of an overdose of antibiotics being given to a 8 month old baby resulting in death, the hospital is liable. For liability to be determined there are four main components, duty to care, breach of duty, injury and causation (Pozgar, 2016). By definition duty of care is defined as an activity where the individual is involved in an activity which makes them responsible. As the patient was a baby admitted to the hospital, the hospital had an obligation for duty of care (Croke, 2006).
However, in order for the hospital to be liable it must be proven that there was a breach of duty (Kelley, 2001). In this particular case a wrong dose of antibiotics was prepared by the pharmacy technician Tatiana. She then placed the medication to be reviewed and checked by the pharmacist Barry Longmore. However, he placed the medication near the outbox as something else came out. As such another pharmacist, assumed it was ready to go and didn’t check for initials or that the logbook had been signed. The incorrect prescription was then given to the patient. Therefore in this case, there was a breach of duty as the proper procedures were not followed making this act below the acceptable standard of care. As the patient died, this means that an injury occurred (Croke, 2006).
Finally in order for the hospital to be liable causation must be proven. In this particular case there was a breakdown in the procedures which lead to the occurrence of the action. Based on this information the accident was foreseeable (Pozgar, 2016). If the prescription had not been placed near the outbox and if it had been verified then this unfortunate accident would not have occurred. As such it is likely that the hospital will be found liable for this accident. In the futures, more stringent procedures are needed to reduce the occurrence of an accident of this kind.
- Croke, E. (2006). Nursing malpractice: Determining liability elements for negligent acts. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting, 17(3), 3-7.
- Kelley, P. J. (2001). Restating Duty, breach, and proximate cause in negligence Law: Descriptive Theory and the rule of law. Vand. L. Rev., 54, 1039.
- Pozgar, G. D. (2016). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
