Healthcare professionals face bigger challenges than ever as a result of malpractice lawsuits against them. According to McCool et al (2015), lawsuit following adverse outcomes in clinical practice is commonplace in the United States. Sadly, lawsuits are brought against smart, caring and highly competent professionals (such as the Physicians and nurses) in everyday practice alleging mistakes for failing to assess, monitor, document and/or follow standards of care. While it is true that promoting patients’ safety and quality of care are an integral part of any healthcare organization’s vision as well as the Joint Commission’s 2017 National patient safety goals, I feel there should be a limit on the malpractice suits and awards. As a nurse,
…show more content…
Besides, no healthcare professionals can deliberately inflict injuries, pain or death on a patient. Hence, if a limit is placed on the medical malpractice suits, patients will not be preoccupied with a lawsuit in the event of medical errors from the providers at the point of admission to the hospital or visiting the physician office.
How, a medical malpractice suit serves as an opportunity to learn, grow and move forward in hopes of another occurrence
Let's face it, malpractice cases and lawsuits do not begin with lawyers; it is however, begins with the healthcare Provider’s interactions with patients and their family members. Many studies have proven that patients who feel well cared for by their providers rarely engage in malpractice lawsuits even when there may be a poor prognosis or outcome to some element of the care plan. Furthermore, increase awareness of malpractice lawsuit in an organization will ensure healthcare providers adhere to the established standards of care by the organization including those of their professional code of conducts to promote a high standard of patients’ care and safety while minimizing the chances of medical litigation. At the end of the day, much of malpractice is about effective communication between the patient and the provider and a sound medical record documentation (Faherty,
Besides, no healthcare professionals can deliberately inflict injuries, pain or death on a patient. Hence, if a limit is placed on the medical malpractice suits, patients will not be preoccupied with a lawsuit in the event of medical errors from the providers at the point of admission to the hospital or visiting the physician office.
How, a medical malpractice suit serves as an opportunity to learn, grow and move forward in hopes of another occurrence
Let's face it, malpractice cases and lawsuits do not begin with lawyers; it is however, begins with the healthcare Provider’s interactions with patients and their family members. Many studies have proven that patients who feel well cared for by their providers rarely engage in malpractice lawsuits even when there may be a poor prognosis or outcome to some element of the care plan. Furthermore, increase awareness of malpractice lawsuit in an organization will ensure healthcare providers adhere to the established standards of care by the organization including those of their professional code of conducts to promote a high standard of patients’ care and safety while minimizing the chances of medical litigation. At the end of the day, much of malpractice is about effective communication between the patient and the provider and a sound medical record documentation (Faherty,