Legal Components of the Case
In the trial of of Itturalde v. Hilo Medical Center in which the plaintiff sued the hospital for negligence on the 30th of march 2012 is an example of medical malpractice cases. The case was in Hawaii at the Intermediate Court of Appeal. The plaintiff got diagnosed with the condition that made his nerves stiffen up, and the only solution was for him to undergo surgery. The surgical procedure was to be done by Dr. Ricketson on the 29th of January 2001. The process needed for the hospital to order supplies from a company known as Medtronic, which got delivered in two separate packs on the 27th of January. The surgical equipment got sterilized before the inventory got done as per the hospital procedure. The doctor got informed of some missing equipment before the process. Even with this information, Dr. Ricketson did nothing but went ahead to perform the surgery, but he disregarded this and performed the surgery.
Dr. Ricketson used a screwdriver instead of a titanium rod. The screwdriver was packed in the kit without having it cleared for human implementation, and this information never got to the patient. Mr. Itturalde later developed complications, and the screwdriver dislocated from his back. Dr. Ricketson did another procedure to remove the screwdriver from his back. Still, unfortunately, the patient passed on in June 2003 due to his worsened condition that required a higher level of healthcare. Dr. Ricketson got presented in court due to negligence, but he denied the claims (Idemoto, 2007) . The hospital was ordered by the court to compensate the family of the deceased with $5.6 million and $3.4 million to the same family for damages. The case is negligence because Dr. Ricketson caused his patient’s death. The incident could have been avoidable if the doctor followed the required procedures.
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The relevant malpractice Policies
The case has four malpractices which are negligence, negligent credentialing, breach of a contract and liability against the offended. Neglect is due to the doctor’s failure to carry out the medical procedure in the required manner. He showed professional negligence by proceeding with the surgical procedure even when he knew that some surgical equipment was missing. There was a breach of warranty since the material did not go through the inventory procedure before they got handed over for the surgery. He is liable for the patient’s death, as this was avoidable.
Malpractice Case for Standard of Care
The patient’s case was negligent for the level of care. Negligence is the level of conduct that individuals must conform to. Law considers medical malpractice as one of the areas within the overall domain of negligence. For the plaintiff to get compensated for damages, four requirements must be by the plaintiff. The four conditions are that there must be a duty; there must be a breach of duty; there must be harm caused by the duty that was neglected in general. Breach of duty goes hand in hand with the standard of care. Medical procedures should get performed safely, and for one to fall below the required standard, they must have ignored this requirement. After several successful cases in 1900, the standard of care got defined by the legal concept of custom. “certain dangers have been removed by a customary way of doing things safely, this custom may be proved to show that [the one charged with the dereliction] has fallen below the required standard” Garthe v. Ruppert in 1934. Moreover, if other people in the enterprise have a common practice that prevents danger, then such kind of methods can be used as a definition of the standard of care. However, the court could still make its decision on whether the practice was reasonable and whether deviating was wrong and could be harmful.
Impact of Malpractice case to healthcare consumers
The case could have the same effect on an individual from a different culture. All healthcare consumers face the risk of getting affected by malpractice. Negligence as misconduct affects healthcare consumers in that patients can incur higher medical charges on hospital bills that they had not planned. Neglect has a global impact as it faces all healthcare consumers regardless of the culture. It also leaves the families to the patient with loss due to the death of a loved one. Malpractice has economic, psychological, and social effects on healthcare consumers. Individuals can experience a challenge in the high costs that result from misconduct. Healthcare consumers view healthcare systems as institutions that can breach the contract and neglect essential procedures that could cause death. Healthcare providers should, however, be individuals that people confine with, but this case has proved otherwise as they can neglect patients.
Malpractice case for accountability
The malpractice case for accountability is negligence. Dr. Ricketson did not carry out the legal procedures during the surgery. He knew that some equipment was missing but went ahead with the surgery. The doctor also violated the principals of medical ethics by failing to acknowledge the use of a screwdriver during operation. He performed a battery against the patient. The use of a screwdriver in the place of a titanium rod caused the patient to die. Hilo Medical Centre was responsible for the malpractices because the hospital needed to have Dr. Ricketson’s past information before he got employed as a staff. The doctor was, however, responsible for the failed surgery procedure.
References
Idemoto, S. K. (2007). Medical Malpractice in Hawai'i: Tort Crisis or Crisis of Medical Errors. U. Haw. L. Rev. , 30 , 167.
