Clarice Alodie L. Tagupa BSN 4NB GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY?

OUTCOME of the CASE:

Case Study no. 1

LQ was found guilty as charged. The surgeon was reprimanded by the judge for his actions but no guilt was attributed to either doctor. Trigger 1: describe your feelings after reading the legal case? What could have been your first statement? After reading the case, I was disappointed because at the bottom line, the nurse will always be the one with the huge mistake. Nurse LQ tried to confirm if the order of the resident was right. The only thing she failed to do was to voice out her opinions/ knowledge regarding the drug in a decent and respectful manner that the dosage of the drug ordered was in excess of the normal dose. She didnt follow her heart and show the principle/ concept of beneficence and nonmalificence. Beneficence and nonmalifecence was incorporated in RA 9173. It says in article III sec. 1, that human life is inviolable thus nurse LQ must have prevented the act that will terminate clients life. Trigger 2: analyze the case from a very objective point of view? What is the bottom line? At the first place, nurse LQ noticed the wrong dosage that was given by the resident physician. She made the right act of confirming the dose by looking for the resident but her mistake was that she followed the order of the surgeon, who claims that the the given order and dose was right. Nurse LQ deeply knows that there is something wrong with the dosage of the ordered drug but still followed the surgeon right away after being reprimanded, when in fact; she should have talked to the resident. By doing so, she was held responsible for giving the wrong dosage to the client. Trigger 3: Do you agree with the outcome? What are the bases of the guilty verdict for LQ? Yes I agree with the outcome. The bases of the guilty verdict were that nurse LQ violated sections 6, 7, and 8, 9, 10 under article III. It is stated in section 6; item number 1 in article III that human life is inviolable. Nurse LQ must havent given the medication provided that she knew that the drug order exceeded the normal dosage.

An item in section 7 says that see to it that quality nursing care and practice meet the optimum standards of SAFE nursing practice. Nurse LQ violated this section and continued giving the medication though she had knowledge that the drug might kill the patient. Section 8 discusses about ethical principle that registered nurses are the advocates of the patients and they shall take appropriate steps to safeguard their rights and privileges. Therefore nurse LQ fail to exercise patients rights which is the right to right dosage and right information. Section 9 discusses about guidelines that nurses must uphold patients rights when conflict arises regarding management of their care. Nurse LQ violated this section by following what the surgeon ordered to her. She should have refused to give the medication since she had the knowledge that the dosage of the drug was in excess keeping in mind the patients rights. Trigger 4: if you were LQ, the RN in the case, would you give the prescribed medication to the client? If yes explain your answer if no explain your answer. If I were nurse LQ, I wouldnt give the prescribed medication to the client because as a nurse, I must protect my client from malpractice. I would confirm the dosage and share my knowledge to the resident physician instead of following the furious surgeons order. Using the guidelines in RA 9173, I must be grounded that life is inviolable, clients have their rights and its the nurses responsibility to take steps in protecting those rights. Nurses are client advocates.