In this medical malpractice case, the child known as Kara Smalls suffered permanent disability. This incidence occurred in the year 2014. His parent Karl and Candice Smalls had their baby delivered through C-Section at the Ouachita County Medical Centre in Camden ( Brantley, 2017). The family had alleged that the family physician, Dr. Jonathan Lewis, had failed to properly follow up on a blood test that had indicated a high risk of life-threatening jaundice, a brain-damaging condition that is treatable. However, due to the doctor and nurse’s negligence the baby underwent a lot of pain. It was alleged that the nurse had noticed slight jaundice in the baby and still did not confirm it to the doctor. As a result, the parents of the child filed a lawsuit proving that the doctor and the medical staff in the facility ignored the high initial reading and also failed to repeat the blood test before discharging the baby (Brantley, 2017). In this case, the plaintiffs were Karl and Candice Smalls the parents of the child who were suing the defendants Ouachita County Medical Centre.
The rights of Karl’s and Candice Small were violated in this case by the medical center because first of all, the nurse and the doctor did not show respect and dignity to their child since they were not responsive to the patient’s needs. Secondly, the patient’s right to medical treatment was disregarded by the nurse who had already noticed the condition of the baby and remained silent as she watched the mother and the baby get discharged from the hospital. Also, the nurse and the doctor violated the patient’s right to information because the mother had already reported the matter, but they took it casually. This is because the doctor had told Candice to return to the hospital after ten days but, she returned after three days due to the worsening condition of the baby. In addition, patient rights were violated because they were not given a chance to get a second opinion before their baby’s condition worsened.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The doctor and the nurse were responsible for the pain caused to the baby since they failed to see the patient immediately Candice reported the matter to the medical center. Thus, due to the lateness of the doctor, the child was already exposed to high levels of bilirubin and eventually made the baby suffer an irreversible brain injury (Brantley, 2017). As a result, the child was supposed to live the rest of her life confined to a wheelchair and is expected to be provided with expensive care and treatment.
Medical practitioners should ensure that they conduct all the tests needed to a patient before discharging the patient from hospitals. Subsequently, they should always be available to their patients at any time even if they had scheduled an appointed for a later date. As such, they should ensure that they provide their patients with all the information they need to know about their health and should act fast at all times. Lastly, the medical practitioners should focus on their work without despising their patients because they are trained to provide proper healthcare to them. The role of the compliance officer, in this case, was to ensure that the report and the many calls that the patient’s mother had relayed were immediately answered on time. Also, the compliance officer should have communicated with the doctor and the nurse before discharging the patient. Finally, the officer should safeguard the patient’s interests and make sure that their needs are thoroughly attended to avoid such incidences and save lives.
References
Brantley, M. (2017, March 10). Jury awards $46.5 million in malpractice case in Camden . Retrieved from https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2017/03/10/jury- awards-465-million-in-malpractice-case-in-camden
