Case Study
As the department head of the Risk Management Department at Lincoln Terrace Community Hospital, you are responsible for providing training for all newly hired employees and in-service training for current staff. After recent, negative publicity of Lincoln Terrace Community Hospital in the community's newspaper, the chief executive officer requests immediate training. You are informed that not all staff members are familiar with the legal, ethical, and regulatory terms associated with healthcare issues. You are asked to research a healthcare case that involves an unintentional medical tort and respond to the following bullets:
- Identify and discuss the source and type of law that governs the case
- Discuss unintentional and intentional torts, and identify the tort applicable to this case
- Identify the following parties in the case:
- a. Plaintiff
- b. Defendant
- Discuss the different types of defenses that can be utilized and what defense, if applicable, the defendant's lawyer used in the case?
- Were the four elements of negligence evident in the case? Discuss how each element relates to the case
- Duty of care
- Dereliction (Breach of duty of care)
- Damage
- Direct Cause
- Discuss whether or not the standard of care was practiced in this case?
- Was the principle of Prudent Person observed? Why/Why not?
- Discuss if damages were awarded in the case. If damages were awarded, discuss why the judge/jury awarded the damages. If no damages were awarded, discuss why the judge/jury didn't award damages.
- Discuss the history of malpractice insurance and its current impact on the healthcare industry