Legal Aspects of Nursing

Impeachment is the legal process of attacking a witness’s credibility by exposing contradictions or mistakes. In practice, opposing counsel will scrutinize your earlier statements (in reports, depositions or prior cases) to find any inconsistency with your trial testimony. In other words, if you testify one way at a deposition or in a report or in…

#1. Unprofessional Conduct: This broad category covers behaviors that violate ethical standards, including falsifying records, breaching patient confidentiality, or engaging in inappropriate relationships with patients. Case Example: In 2022, a nurse in California was disciplined for falsifying patient records to cover up a medication error. The nurse documented administering a prescribed dose of insulin to…

These failures to act as a reasonably competent nurse would have most commonly resulted in the patient’s death or pressure injuries. Less common were infections, fractures and fetal/birth brain injuries. As a LNC you need to take these breaches in the standard of care and explain them in a concise and well written report that…

I have periodically been involved in cases where monitor alarms have been silenced, resulting in catastrophic injuries to the patient. In the most recent case I was involved in regarding this issue, a 40 y.o. patient who was hospitalized for pancreatitis suffered an unwitnessed cardiac arrest, but no one knew it because the cardiac monitor…

Nurses can take steps to protect themselves from negligence and malpractice claims while ensuring patient safety. Here are some of the most effective ways to minimize risks: 1. Follow Standard Procedures & Policies: Follow facility protocols and evidence based best nursing practices. Use checklists for medication administration, wound care, and other high-risk procedures. Follow the…

If you work in healthcare you know that retained foreign objects are a common source of malpractice cases against physicians who do surgery. But did you know nurses who perform the “sponge count” may also be named as a defendant in these cases. A lawsuit filed against Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital recently alleges a surgical…