Malpractice?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I posted this question under Dplear's post about the child who died, but was afraid it would be buried there and wanted to ask again.

As I stated in that post, I am in no way judging or placing blame on ANYONE, but I'm curious what will be done about the fact that the leads were not hooked up and the monitors weren't even on? Will the child's mother be notified of this? Would this be considered malpractice? I don't even start nursing school until tomorrow morning, so I have no idea how serious these things are, but it sure doesn't sound good.

I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but in cases of negligence or malpractice in general, is it always reported and charted, parents and family notified, or is it kept hush-hush, not reported or just flat out lied about? I'm not talking about this case in particular, but with any nurses or doctors you work with? How are "mistakes" handled where you work?

Okay, twice asked and not a single response. Should I assume the silence here IS my answer? Kinda scary...

I don't think that a nurse can answer that question. I didn't see the post you were refering to but I got the gist. As a nurse, you are required to document relavant nursing information/assessments for any particular patient. Any information regarding a patients death is given by MD's and/or Administrators. Typically, in such a case if family asks a specific question regarding a patients death (regardless of cause) the nurse should refer them to the attending MD. You are not allowed to make a diagnosis nor declare cause of death. If the case goes to trial, a nurse tells the truth and the blame should fall where it belongs. I don't think that hospitals intentionally cover up information, even if they did any good lawyer can dig it up! We live in a sue happy world and regardless of the title after your name, we are all only human and make mistakes, sometime mistakes that can take a life. Always remember to document,document,document!!!

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