Interesting case of the spilled pills

Nurses General Nursing

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This case intrigued me. Let me know what you think regarding the decision to fish wasted tablets out of the sharps container...

https://www.nurse.com/blog/2019/03/13/court-rules-with-board-of-nursing-on-spilled-pills-case-against-nurses/

44 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:

Of course the inmate would lose if it actually went to court. But if you have a management that settles every lawsuit, no matter how frivolous, it's worth filling out the paperwork for a few grand.

He wouldn't lose. And it's not frivolous. The case is a slam dunk. They fished pills out of a bloody sharps container, clearly endangering him and none of that can be contested. It's just that the monetary award would be a token amount because no harm was done. There was a lot of potential harm, but I don't know if that counts for getting $ out of somebody.

Think of it like this. Someone with no car insurance bumps your car. You sue them. You were not hurt and there is no actual damage, not even a scratch on your car. The jury rules that the person did bump your car. You won the law suit!

You want 10k to fix. . . . nothing. How much money will you get? Court fees and five bucks sounds about right.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
10 hours ago, Luchador said:

He wouldn't lose. And it's not frivolous. The case is a slam dunk. They fished pills out of a bloody sharps container, clearly endangering him and none of that can be contested. It's just that the monetary award would be a token amount because no harm was done. There was a lot of potential harm, but I don't know if that counts for getting $ out of somebody.

Think of it like this. Someone with no car insurance bumps your car. You sue them. You were not hurt and there is no actual damage, not even a scratch on your car. The jury rules that the person did bump your car. You won the law suit!

You want 10k to fix. . . . nothing. How much money will you get? Court fees and five bucks sounds about right.

You're right about everything. At the jail where I worked, the county settled everything. And inmates have 24 hrs a day to think up things. A case like this would certainly have been worth a few bucks. With no ill effects. That inmate won the lottery.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Women's Health, LTC.

What in the ?????

How disgusting. Why would anyone, let alone a nurse or pharmacist, think it would be okay to give ANY PATIENT pills that come out of a DIRTY sharps container?!?!?!

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Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
On 3/17/2019 at 8:01 AM, Kitiger said:

KP216 said, "Never hesitate to “manager up”. When things like this happen call a manager and demand they do it personally. It’s amazing how things change when you force the managers / facility to take ownership of these problems."

Exactly.

Yes, this is sooo true, the minute you tell the manager, or MD, that you will not do this/that and that they can feel free to do it if they think it is OK they immediately change their tune!! Been there, don't that many times.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

This is just nuts. I never heard of such a thing being asked of a nurse--shake the pills out of the sharps container? Really?? And they actually did it, which is even more stupid. The BON is absolutely right in this case. You don't do something like this just because someone in a position of a higher authority tells you to do it. Stupid is as stupid does.

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On 3/17/2019 at 9:47 AM, FolksBtrippin said:

If anyone ever asked me to retrieve something from the sharps container I would be on the phone with OSHA in a hot second. Workplace safety.

Was the pharmacist disciplined? How about the supervisor?

I am so sick of stories where multiple people screw up and the nurses take all the blame.

Don't leave the doctor out. He also was to blame.

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10 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

You're right about everything. At the jail where I worked, the county settled everything. And inmates have 24 hrs a day to think up things. A case like this would certainly have been worth a few bucks. With no ill effects. That inmate won the lottery.

The inmate should get to count all of his winnings - all the way to the electric chair.

No, I don't know what he did, but he has likely cost the taxpayers quite a lot in his life. And don't forget the future crimes he will likely commit.

Only in America, I think. Or is it the times we live in?

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
23 minutes ago, Kooky Korky said:

The inmate should get to count all of his winnings - all the way to the electric chair.

No, I don't know what he did, but he has likely cost the taxpayers quite a lot in his life. And don't forget the future crimes he will likely commit.

Only in America, I think. Or is it the times we live in?

Mistake #1: Not having a formulary Mistake #2: Fishing pills out of the sharps box.

I have my doubts as to whether the inmate was as distressed as you or I would be. This is the demographic known to ingest drugs that have been transported in other peoples' rectums.

I do think it was worth a lawsuit: professionals need to conduct themselves accordingly and that message needs to be clear. As to what the inmate will do with his windfall? He might start a college fund for his kids. But I have my doubts on that. Unless he has a very long sentence ahead of him, chances are good the taxpayers will fund his substance abuse problem. And the resulting necessary treatment.

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On 3/15/2019 at 1:57 PM, klone said:

Holy cow. That's just...wow.

That's exactly what I said after reading the OP. No way in the world that should have happened.

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Specializes in Practice educator.

Huh? This is proper mental. There are too many gifs I could think to us.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

That's just wow! I first can't believe the facility actually expected anybody to open a sharps container to retrieve the pills in the first place. Then a pharmacist looked at said pills and decided they were OK to use despite being in contact with medical waste from several people with God knows what possibly contagious medical conditions? Last but not least, the nurses agreed to do this???

But as usual, it's the nurses that were disciplined for their role in this fiasco. Where are the sanctions against the facility that directed the staff to do this in the first place? Where is the disciple from the governing board for pharmacists against the person that eyeballed contaminated medication and said "they're fine, use them." ?

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14 minutes ago, kbrn2002 said:

That's just wow! I first can't believe the facility actually expected anybody to open a sharps container to retrieve the pills in the first place. Then a pharmacist looked at said pills and decided they were OK to use despite being in contact with medical waste from several people with God knows what possibly contagious medical conditions? Last but not least, the nurses agreed to do this???

But as usual, it's the nurses that were disciplined for their role in this fiasco. Where are the sanctions against the facility that directed the staff to do this in the first place? Where is the disciple from the governing board for pharmacists against the person that eyeballed contaminated medication and said "they're fine, use them." ?

The article says the physician was also disciplined. I couldn't find any information on what form that took. How did the pharmacist dodge the regulatory slap? What a bunch of buffoons-- the lot of them.

Hopefully the prison infirmary (via parent company) goes through some sort of accreditation and that can get pulled or at least used to put the organization over the barrel.

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