Reading the report on the mitigation cases presented, one thing that struck was the fact that the nurse is always easily blamed for any inconveniences caused to a patient. Whether or not the nurse was directly in any given case of harm that a patient suffers, the nurse has the right for a free and fair hearing and trial to determine the case. In most scenarios, when a patient is misdiagnosed or is mixed up in a communication breakdown, the nurse is easily blamed. While the other players, including the patient themselves, are not carefully investigated. It is sad that in most of the cases presented in the claim report, the nurse always takes the first blow.
One claim scenario that stood out in the report was the successful defense of a nurse accused of incompetence resulting in the death of a patient. This emergency nurse was responsible for handling a 34-year-old patient sent to the triage area of the emergency department to have her hemodialysis catheter. The nurse duly examined the patient and determined that she would have to be seen by a practitioner within 60 minutes following triage. The nurse then relayed this piece of information to the new nurse before heading out for her lunch break. The new nurse did not put the patient on the next available bed as instructed, and 90 minutes later, the patient was taken to the practitioner.
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Due to the delay, the patient was unresponsive to medication and died the following day. The nurse, who was CAN-insured was sued for incompetence although she was successfully defended at trial. This case is a classic example of the rush allegations nurses face in their daily duties. It should serve as a wakeup call to the relevant authorities to conduct extensive investigations before serving nurses with lawsuits. If these were carried out, the case would be settled out of court less expensively and quickly.
