Administration of an inaccurate medication dosage in pediatric patients legal issue 

Question

administration of an inaccurate medication dosage in pediatric patients -legal issue 

section needed is malpractice and disciplinary action issues in the case of Dennis Quaid twins overdosing after receiving inaccurate medication dosage of heparin.  need one reference within last 5 years

Sample paper

Medical Malpractives

Overview of the malpractice

  • Heparin was the cause of the malpractice
  • Heparin is a strong anticoagulant
  • Heparin was packed in bags similar to those used in packing help-lock

Health malpractice is deemed to happen to both the rich and the poor. Different parties have various responsibilities to reduce on malpractices in the hospitals. Heparin is a very strong anticoagulant that was packed in bags with blue writings on it making it look similar to hep-lock. The two medications were manufactured by the same manufacturer who ignored the possibility of mix ups even after children died out of that human error (Shapiro, 2010).

Whose responsibility?

  • Baxter manufacturer failed to take action following a mix up that previously caused the death of two infants.
  • Nurses failed to countercheck on the medications since they were used to the location routine.
  • Lack of concentration on the part of the nurses.

Baxter manufacturer were negligent to taking action after their two products caused death to infants children earlier due to some mix ups. The nurses must have been used to location routine so never counterchecked on the medications before administering them (Shapiro, 2010). Lack of concentration by the nurse was very clear in this case. It would have taken the nurse in charge few seconds to check on the names. They were just in a rush to get it done.

  • The hospital acted negligent by ruling out a malpractice possibility.
  • The hospital is supposed to ensure that nurses are not overworked but failed on this.
  • The hospital should have retrained the nurses on medication safety

The hospital was neglect by ruling out malpractice possibilities. They are supposed to ensure their nurses are not overworked – fatigue will highly contribute to these mistakes. The hospital should have trained the nurses on medication safety and sensitizing them on medication errors, likely outcomes and how to prevent them (Shapiro, 2010

Outcomes

  • The injured family agreed for an out of court settlement.
  • The hospital had develop new strategies to prevent future malpractices.
  • There was introduction of computerized hospital systems and bar code readers to ensure safety of all patients.

The injured family settled it remotely with the hospital without including any legal law suit. But in return the hospital had to improve on their strategies to prevent another occurrence of the same human error. More computerized hospital systems and bar code readers in all rooms to improve safety of the patients. The medications manufactures got themselves sued for negligence where if they had made a distinct difference between their products the human error would not have occurred (Shapiro, 2010).

Reference

Shapiro, R. (2010 Aug. 9). Preventable Medical Malpractice. Chesapeake & Suffolk.

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