Read the article shared with you in class. Discuss how you feel about lawsuits. When do you feel that they are right? When do you feel that they are wrong? Is negligence intentional? What do we do as professionals to help our chances of being sued?
Once you have answered all of the questions, read a classmates and reply to them about their thoughts.
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ReplyDeleteI have a mixed opinion on lawsuits. I believe that it is essential that a patient be able to be compensated for losses sustained from actions of their healthcare professional. Nobody should be above punishment. If a patient is significantly injured or put at risk, or a law was broken, a lawsuit is definitely okay. That being said, what one person views as significant is different than the next person. You can’t just sue someone because you’re unhappy, or because your doctor won’t give you his cell phone number. As someone who has been a patient, I completely understand it. As a human being, I know that everyone makes mistakes, doctors or not, and that if it’s not too serious, there’s no reason to sue. I feel like most of the time, negligence isn’t intentional. That being said, if you can’t remember not to leave scissors inside a patient, maybe rethink being a surgeon. Gross negligence, however, is intentional. Fraud is intentional. Abuse is Intentional. The things that you do to counteract negligence should become muscle memory, but you should also make sure that you are thorough with whatever you do such as: count the pairs of clamps that you put in the patient and count how many you take out to make sure the numbers match, before talking to anyone about a patient ask yourself “Is this going to be a breach of confidentiality?”, and make sure that you are explaining the risks and benefits of each option you present. Don't forget to report any and all mistakes you make to your organization's legal department! Doing these things as a healthcare provider should help to prevent lawsuits. Also, common sense doesn’t seem to be all that common anymore but make sure you’re using it!
ReplyDeleteLawsuits are apart of humans lives almost everywhere, you can see them on tv, or ones always being talked about on social media or in the news, it had just became such a normal thing for people to do when they feel they have been treated wrong. How I feel about lawsuits is that is some cases they are necessary like for a business when they need a change for the better but won't do it, or when a medical professional has abused a patient, but I also feel that they are too common and that to many people try to use them as a easy problem solver and a get rich quick scam. I feel a lawsuit is right in the medical world for when a medical professional is purposely causing harm to a patient, not giving the best care possible, and if during surgery they leave a harmful object in a person that can cause problems with that person. When I feel they are wrong is if an accident happens where nothing very serious occurred such as someone slipping in a hallway or something along those lines, because that isn't really anybodies fault just an accident that could have happened anywhere. A lot of times I don't believe negligence is intentional I believe that it is something that happens on accident most of the times, and in some cases a doctor just slips up and isn't really thinking about what hes doing if it occurs. What professionals do to reduce the chances of getting sued is they can exercise care in treating patients, complying with acceptable standards of care, and only taking those actions they are authorized to take by the state of law.
ReplyDeleteI agree social media and news outlets may make a false sense of normalcy to lawsuits being used for common accidents that may not be a specific persons fault. Leaving objects in someone during surgery is an obvious problem and could lead to lawsuit being filed,and just having the professionals be thorough and diligent in care and complying to rules, regulations, and laws are the best way for professionals to reduce the chance of being sued.
DeleteI agree, I also believe that lawsuits have become a normal thing and that social media has made them normal.
DeleteLawsuits are becoming more and more common in this era in everyday lives and social media outlets makes them seem like anyone can file a lawsuit for even the smallest offense. I believe lawsuits should only be filed against medical professionals if an ordeal took place that caused significant injury due to malpractice or negligence. I feel people get offended too easily and quickly assume that a lawsuit will solve their problems if they dislike their physician or doctor attending to them. If a pair of scissors or sponge, medical tool, etc. got left in someone then it is okay for that patient to sue. If a surgery for example was very dangerous due to the severity of someone's injuries and the operation wasn't as clean cut as expected, everyone makes mistakes and I don't believe in that instance a lawsuit is viable option. However in the case of abuse or fraud these are obvious terms for a lawsuit that are intentional against the patient. Many forms of malpractice aren't intentional for instance, a chat room across states to help a patient that information gets leaked is a violation of breach of confidentiality. Also ending a relationship without a patients knowledge and they need further care is medical abandonment malpractice. Making sure the health professional stays inside their duty of care and doctor/patient confidentiality isn't breached through social media or a blog is a way to ensure the professional has their bases covered and staying inside their realm of practice on the patient and being clear and informative on procedures.
ReplyDeleteI agree that lawsuits are becoming more common and that social media makes them seem like anyone can file a lawsuit.
DeletePersonally, I feel like lawsuits are very important to keep practices under control however, I believe when it comes to lawsuits there has become a way to sue for every little thing. I believe that lawsuits have become too common and they are no longer taken seriously, or as seriously as they should be. I feel lawsuits should be in order if the situation was done intentionally. If complications during a procedure have taken place and the physician has done tried everything in their power to avoid issue, I feel that there should be lawsuit against them. If the physician just casually gave up and did the slightest to avoid a problem and left a patient without treatment, then I believe action should be done. In some cases I would say negligence is not intentional, but on the other hand, you are a doctor, with essentially someone’s life in your hands, you should make sure that everything in your power to complete the primacy of the patient. Mistakes do happen, but with teamwork, and people constantly looking out for each other, bad things should not take place. Again, to avoid being sued, you as a physician should take measures to make sure that the primacy of the patient is complete. Also, team work is highly effective and should be practiced for the well being of patient. Also, being as thorough as possible with lessen chances of being sued.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. The amount of lawsuits people are creating is starting to get out of hand. There is only so much a human being can do and nobody is perfect. Mistakes happen, so as long as it wasn't intentional and no serious damage has occurred, there is no point in going to the hassle of suing someone.
DeleteI can agree with pretty much everything you said. I like that you said that mistakes do happen, but with teamwork, they shouldn't. For example; leaving foreign objects inside patients should never happen, especially with more than one person working. I think that lawsuits are taken seriously, but you are right. Too many people are being sued for the littlest things.
DeleteLawsuits are both a blessing and a curse, it all depends which side you are on. It is important for patients to be able to take action when a professional is doing their job incorrectly or may not be doing it at all. Just because somebody has a piece of paper saying they can do certain things doesn't mean that person always holds up to it. When a patient’s health and overall well being are jeopardized is when lawsuits should come into effect. This includes times of negligence, fraud, and abuse. Negligence can be either intentional or not, depending on if the caregiver purposely refuses to give treatment or gives incorrect treatment. On the other hand, some people take the ability to create a lawsuit for granted. Those people who are always looking for a way to make money could use the ability to create a lawsuit for any sort of complaint. This is completely wrong because it could ruin a practitioner’s life work when no wrongdoing occured. To reduce the chances of a lawsuit from forming, practitioners should maintain proper credentials and continuing education requirements. It is also important to ensure everything is done to the best of their ability and to never falsify any documentation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that lawsuits can go both directions. I think it is common for lawsuits to be taken for granted, and could permanently alter someone's life. I also agree with negligence being both intentional and unintentional based on the situation. There is a fine line between unintentional and intentional actions with medical professionals.
DeleteI believe that lawsuits are acceptable in certain situations. I think lawsuits are just a part of peoples’ everyday life. They happen everywhere, including on televisions, in the court room, and we even see them on social media and the news. I believe it has become such a norm that people do not really care if it is acceptable to file the lawsuit or not. I believe there are certain occasions where it is acceptable. Some occasions would be if a foreign body is left in a patient, a healthcare provider does not protect the patient’s information, or even when fraud and abuse happen. I feel like lawsuits are wrong when the healthcare provider decides they do not want to work on the patient anymore because they may have certain reasons for this action. I believe that negligence is intentional. I believe that if you are licensed to be a healthcare provider you should know what you are and aren’t allowed to do and follow those rules. To help our chances of being sued as professionals are we can exercise care in treating patients, complying with acceptable standards of care, and taking only those actions they are authorized to take by state law.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with that the care giver shouldn't be sued for not wanting to provide care because it is true there could be reasons why he or she stop. Also I liked how you talked about the foreign objects being left in a patients body after surgery. It's not acceptable for a medical field to harm a patient when the initial point of surgery was to help the patient not harming them.
DeleteI feel as if lawsuits are inevitable in our world today. Mistakes or not, money is a major part of our society, and by making simple or intentional mistakes, money benefits the patient. I feel as if there is a lot of grey area with lawsuits however. There are many instances where patients will find any reason they can to sue a physician, and there is also very serious mistakes physicians make that can ruin a patient’s life. WIth that being said, it may be hard to determine whether or not the physician was doing his or her job in the best interest for the patient. WHen mistakes are made unintentionally, and the patient immensely suffers from the mistake, it is hard to watch a member of your family be in worse condition because of a mistake made by the physician. Lawsuits are big decisions because they can change a person’s life forever. I feel as if lawsuits are right when the physician does not work in the best interest of the patient, fraud, and abuse. All of these are intentional and can be prevented if the physician did his or her job with care. I feel that they are wrong when there are minor, intentional mistakes made. Sometimes situations can get blown out of proportion, and that is when I believe lawsuits can get out of hand. For the most part, I believe negligence is not intentional. A medical professional gets into this field because of their desire to help people. Most professionals would not purposely show negligence to their patients. However, they may get lazy and show negligence. Intentional negligence should be sued against. To reduce the chances of getting sued as professionals, we can focus hard on the task being done, do what is best for the patient in any circumstances, be sympathetic and caring towards the patients, and follow the legal standards set in each profession.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about medical professionals doing what they do because they want to help people. I can't think of someone who would endure rigorous training and schooling just so they can cause harm to people for their own pleasure. My father is a physician so I am a little biased and see things from the medical professionals' side. I agree that most healthcare providers always have the patient's best interest first.
DeleteIn my opinion, I see nothing wrong with lawsuits. If a physician does something wrong, intentional or not, they should receive consequences. This whole article just seemed like common sense, there was one part however that I found interesting. The article talks about healthcare through social media, and that is something that I never thought about. I understand that doctor-patient confidentiality is very important and you could receive a lawsuit if you violated it, but I never knew about a physician helping someone online in another state. If your license restricts you to only practice in one state, I guess it makes sense that you couldn’t help anyone in a different state, even if it is only online. I feel that all lawsuits are right, unless you are being falsely accused of something. The article doesn’t touch on this, but if someone got a lawsuit on something they didn’t do, then that would be unfair. I don’t think negligence is intentional, but I guess it could be. I don’t know why a physician would intentionally do something that wasn’t consented. If a patient went in for exploratory surgery and came out with a different procedure done, then I think that physician would be a sort of criminal. To prevent being sued, as a physician you can just do your best job. Don’t do anything necessary, don’t leave things inside patients, etc. As long as you do your job correctly, you’ll be fine.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the use of lawsuits I believe that they are very important when it comes to keeping practices under control. Lawsuits were made to settle disputes that could not be solved in another way. However, currently I feel that lawsuits have become much more common, and are used too much. With the use of social media, and television we can see or read about law suits every day, making them a normal part of everyday life. When it comes to the use of lawsuits there are many good reason that people would sue a company, or individual practice. Like if they were mistreated by their doctor, or a surgeon left a foreign object in a patient’s body after surgery. However, there are other times that a law suit is probably not the best path to take. In the medical field results are not guaranteed, and as humans we all make mistakes. If the mistake is not life altering, or long lasting there is probably a better route to take than filing for a lawsuit. A healthcare professional would not As a health care professional, it is important to be aware of what you can be sued for, and how to avoid them. To avoid them professionals must be sure to exercise care when treating patients, and must be sure to comply with standard of care.
ReplyDeleteEven if there was something that did take place and it was not life altering or long lasting the patient still had to go through the pain, any complications, and money spent to try to correct the issue. Also, I feel that that patient would have a negative view of the professional and maybe hospital becasue the experience was not a good one. Which it could be an hoest mistake but I do feel thats half the reason that good people end up getting hit with these lawsuites sadly.
DeleteI agree I do believe that lawsuits are filed much too often and there should be more regulations on when you can file one and how much evidence you need to pursue the legal route especially when it comes to the fact that having a malpractice lawsuit on your record could very well easily end your career as a healthcare professional.
DeleteWithin the medical field there are various circumstances in which a lawsuit is necessary and should be filed. These being, negligence, technical battery, fraud, abuse, to name a few. If a claim is filed against a physician it is a very serious ordeal. I feel that the patient must fully understand what they are claiming and they must have ample evidence. In my experience as a patient I feel that I have not known enough about my treatment, medication, and/or attending staff to make a decision about the quality of my care. There have been instances where I have had to wait a long amount of time or the new was not the news I was anticipating. These situations should not be confused as a cause for a lawsuit to be filed. From what I have observed, more and more lawsuits are being filed against medical professionals because the patient(s) think they know what is best for them. While there are causes for lawsuits, the situations that call for them are very serious and very rare. As medical professionals, we should be doing everything in our power to give appropriate and timely care to our patients. If we fail to do so then we can be sued for negligence. Negligence is very ambiguous. There are very obvious cases of it where a physician can completely abandon and disregard a patient. There are then also cases of negligence where a physician might have had good intentions but what they did was out of their scope of practice. If we do our jobs and do them well, we will have a much lesser chance of being sued. Making sure you are practicing within the legal standards of your profession(and knowing what that legal standards are) is a great way to stay out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about the patient having actual evidence and know what they are claiming before filing a lawsuit against a physician
DeleteI feel that it is right to be able to sue someone for not doing their job, especially in the healthcare industry because the lives of other people are at risk. I do not believe that someone should jeopardize someone’s life for personal gain or because they are just lazy. I also feel that if people do not want their information out in society, they should not have to have it out there with their name on it. I think that legal standards are wrong when social media patients are asking for help and healthcare professionals try to give input but can still be sued for not technically being licensed in that area of the state. I feel that there has to be enough similarities between the states that if someone wants help from someone in a different area they should be able to do so. In regard to the situations where the doctor will perform an exploratory surgery and then preform another but be able to get sued is kind of weird. I feel like most times when these type of exploration is needed it is to determine what is best to do. While this occurs, something happens and there needs to be a decision made to fix the issue. Where there is no time to ask the patient, I do not think that the medical professional should be sued. Also, I feel that lawsuits are needed in the healthcare industry in order to protect the patient from the healthcare professional. But I do think that there needs to be something put into place for the healthcare professional. What if there was a situation that the healthcare professional was trying to treat a patient but needed help with trying to come up with a new way of treatment and needed some help, but they were told by the patient they did not want any help other than from that specific doctor? If you broke that word, would that be a legal suit? Or what happens when people are just trying to have an answer or someone to blame other than what it is? Will it fall on the healthcare professional? Has that ever happened before? As professionals we can make sure that the chances of not being sued are low by following all guidelines and not being risky in the type of practices we do. Make good relationships with patients and make sure that everyone is on the same page before anything takes place.
ReplyDeleteIn my own opinion I do believe that lawsuits are something that we as people should have knowledge about. I say this because lawsuits are very common in the medical field but even in our everyday lives. I do feel that patients should have the right to sue if under great danger. Someone shouldn't be working on someone if they don't have their licenses to practice that certain medical field on someone else. Which makes sense because if being in the medical field is something you want to do then taking the steps needed to be in that field is a must. Now speaking about getting the licenses for a certain field I believe that going into a different state shouldn't affect how a certified person gets treated. If going through the educational aspect of it all, everyone who goes to college goes through the same amount of work, skills and materiel at every college. So to me if a person from California goes to Ohio for Athletic Training and then moves back to California to pursue they career as an AT after going through all the learning and training I don't think it's fair to say they aren't licensed in both states. To me I don't think it should be far to sue someone if they moved from state to state when really it's all the same thing state to state and they have their licenses and certification as an AT. In my opinion I think negligence is intentional because it's not hard to follow the rules of properly taking care of someone in your field. In the article they said an example of negligence would be leaving a foreign object in the patient after surgery. That should never ever happen especially when it is their job to fix the problem not make it worse by being careless and oblivious. There are many different ways to avoid being sued that was said in the article but just by following the rules of the medical field one wishes to be apart of can save them from lawsuits in their future.
ReplyDeleteI feel that lawsuits can be a good way of handling any unethical treatment or disputes that cannot be dealt with in a different manner. I say this because if a patient has endured something that has caused them some serious issues they should be able to protect themselves. I also feel that they can be misused in some cases so there is a possibility that lawsuits cannot be in anybody’s best interest in a situation. I feel that they are right if malpractice is a factor, so any carelessness, neglectfulness, or other forms are committed leading to something bad that can occur would be in reason. I feel like they are wrong when someone is trying to get of on a no threating situation or something not accurate just because they think can get away with it. I would think that most of the time that negligence is not intentional and most likely just accidental, but there can be things done that wouldn’t be in normal practice and maybe there’s that one professional does realize it. As professionals to help the chances of being sued everything new and up to date should be followed and focus should be on patient and doing the right things you were taught to do at all times.
ReplyDeletei agree that lawsuits are a great tool for settling disputes, and unethical treatment, i also agree that lawsuits can be misused, and is not always the best way to settle problems. I like how you talk about people trying to sue on non threat issues, i believe this has become a big problem in our society.
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ReplyDeleteI believe lawsuits are essential when it comes to quality care in the heatlhcare field. The ability to file a lawsuit in my eyes is there to keep doctors and surgeons and healthcare professionals in check to ensure you are getting the quality care you deserve. In some cases I do believe lawsuits are frivolous and unwarranted but in others I belive that they are there as compensation for malpractice such as if you had a surgery gone wrong because the surgeon was drunk or on drugs or you had a doctor prescribe you medicines you had a negative reaction to even though it was stated you cant take those meds. So all in all believe that lawsuits are essential to ensure that healthcare professionals are doing their jobs but they can also be a bit of a nuisance because of how often people try to sue with no real reason other than just wanting money.
ReplyDeleteI feel that lawsuits is being abuse more frequently nowadays. Some people file lawsuits on the most smallest thing. Lawsuits should only be used if someone has broken the law or someone's rights has been abused. People always come up with petty lawsuits just to get some money out of it. If the medical person makes a simple mistake that can be fixed, there’s no reason to file a lawsuit. Negligence can be used for a doctor to a certain extent. The doctor can’t keep messing up on every patient he come across but if he/she does that person should be fired and those patients should file a lawsuit. From stopping ourselves from being sued by patients we practice our profession, we continuously find out new technology that makes our job easier. We stay in school that educate us on things to make us better.
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