When relieving pain, the recommended initial dosage for morphine ranges between 4 and 15 milligrams of morphine. Here, it is apparent that the physician was within the recommended dosage to alleviate the pain the patient was experiencing. However, it was within the jurisdiction of the doctor to inquire about the patient's drug and alcohol usage, since morphine can be fatal in case a patient has an alcohol and drug history. As such, the physician can be considered as having failed to exercise a duty of care for failing to inquire about alcohol usage (Cameron and Gumbel, 2010).
The failure to administer blood in the case of the physician was a failure to exercise reasonable care, mostly because the patient needed blood after the accident. The defendant (doctor) owed the plaintiff duty of care, as it was reasonable for the physician to offer blood transfusion to cater for the lost blood. Here, the court would find that such kind of duty exists. Since the man involved in the accident has suffered the loss of blood, the defendant was required to exercise reasonable care in providing a blood transfusion to the patient, as this is an essential procedure to follow in a health care setting (Cameron and Gumbel, 2010).
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About Subdural Hematoma, it cannot be considered in the lawsuit, since the patient appeared alert while answering all the questions asked. Hence, the condition would not have resulted in his death. Thus, in the case of the overdose, the plaintiff cannot proof that the actions by the defendant resulted in the passing of the patient, hence a "but-for" causation situation. However, proximate cause is not apparent in this case since the physician could not have foreseen the death of the patient based on the actions he undertook. Therefore, proximate cause prevails where the doctor failed to offer blood transfusion, which could have led to his death (Cameron and Gumbel, 2010).
Reference
Cameron, C. & Gumbel, E. (2010). Clinical negligence (10th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
