A nurse’s prescription leads to a negligence lawsuit

Facts in a Negligence Case

One Christmas Eve, the patient had a severe cough that she believed was brought on by bronchitis. Her primary care office was closed and she or he didn’t need to go to the emergency room. When she told a friend about her symptoms, she suggested contacting a nurse she knew. The NP worked at an express clinic but didn’t work on Christmas Eve. The NP was called, but it surely is unclear whether the friend shared the patient’s symptoms with the NP or whether the NP spoke on to the patient. The NP prescribed the patient an antibiotic, oral steroids, and an asthma inhaler without seeing her in person or treating her first. The patient’s friend took the prescriptions to a neighborhood pharmacy and picked them up later that day. Neither the NP nor the pharmacist informed the patient that taking antibiotics and steroids could cause tendinitis. She had read the leaflet for the antibiotic but believed that the danger of tendinitis only affected elderly patients. So she took the medicines as prescribed. A couple of days later, the patient experienced pain in her arms and shoulders and saw her primary care physician, who told her that the “most likely cause of her condition” was the medications prescribed by the NP.

Challenges on this negligence lawsuit

When the patient filed her lawsuit, she had difficulty determining who ought to be charged. One of the causes of this problem was that the NP had outdated information filed with the state board of nursing about who her attending physician was. The second reason was the dearth of clarity as to where the NP was actually operating. Indicating the improper treating doctor and clinic was legally unacceptable. Ultimately, it named the pharmacy because the defendant. In the amended criticism, the patient withdrew from the clinic as a defendant and named the NP as a defendant. NP denied responsibility and made several claims affirmative defense, including the fault of the patient and “other person(s) and/or entities for which” the NP was not responsible. An “expedited admission application set” was sent to the NP to find out who her treating physician was. She denied that she was working for her employer on Christmas Eve and using prescription pads and that the named doctor was her supervising doctor that day. NP was temporarily faraway from the criticism for unknown reasons, but has since been removed. In her testimony, the NP named the clinic as her employer and designated her treating physician. The NP also admitted that the previously identified physician was in truth her supervisor on the date in query, and due to this fact her responses to the admission requests were false. In the third and final amended criticism, the patient named the NP, treating physician, clinic, and pharmacy. The doctor and the clinic filed motions to dismiss the claims against them. The court treated these motions as motions for summary judgment, which were granted in favor of the clinic and the doctor. The pharmacy also filed a motion to dismiss the criticism, which was granted by the court, even though it doesn’t constitute a final decision.

The appeals court is considering this

The patient argued that her allegations of negligent hiring and supervision weren’t covered by the state’s medical malpractice statute. However, the appellate court disagreed, finding that her claim that the physician had didn’t properly supervise the NP required review of his medical certificate. The Medical Malpractice Act also provided that there was a three-year period inside which medical malpractice suits may very well be brought unless the defendant had made a “false concealment of information.” The patient didn’t file a lawsuit against the defendants for medical malpractice inside three years. As a result, she was obliged to offer evidence of false concealment of knowledge, which she didn’t do. In fact, the NP never informed either the physician or her employer that she had written a prescription for the patient. None of the defendants knew in regards to the malpractice proceedings until they were served with the criticism, in order that they had nothing to cover. The appellate court upheld the trial court’s conclusions regarding the NP’s physician and employer, based on the three-year deadline and the dearth of false evidence of concealment. The Court of Appeal sent the case back to the first-instance court because of the allegations against the NP regarding skilled negligence and the alleged failure of the physician to properly supervise the NP.

This case’s guidelines for NP practice

NP’s behavior on this matter is perplexing at best. During the negligence proceedings, she repeatedly contradicted herself, which raises doubts about her credibility and reliability each in court and in practice. Remember these key guidelines that got here to light consequently of this negligence lawsuit:

• Never prescribe medication to someone you have got never met, evaluated, or treated.
• Never give a prescription to anyone aside from the patient – unless it’s a known member of the family whom the patient has identified as more likely to receive the prescription.
• Always inform the patient about any potential unwanted side effects of the drugs you prescribe.
• Never lie or omit facts regarding the circumstances of a case brought against you. Even if you happen to later confirm your false testimony, it affects your credibility.
• Inform your doctor and employer about prescriptions that usually are not consistent together with your employer’s policies and usual standards of practice.
• Always inform your state board of nursing of all required information that should be updated, including your attending physician (if required).