Would you tell a family to sue??

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My g.f.'s dad died last year. He went to the ER with pains. Sent home and 2 weeks later died of an aortic dissected aneurysm. My girlfriend did not see her dad for years upon years, but went straight to the hospital when word came to her--he's dieing.

My g.f. drove 5 hours to see her dieing dad. She came back and said, "we are sueing the hospital, they should have caught the problem before--with his first ER visit. And also one of the nurses said to look deeper--we have a good case against the hospital" My g.f.'s MIL is actively sueing the hospital now.

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Now I read a local newspaper. A family is sueing a hospital--the article states a nurse called the family one month after the patients discharge--and stated a mishap. Now the family is sueing.

Have you ever been in a situation like one of the above? Did you tell the family of a mishap? I swear it must be total luck b/c I have nothing to tell a family.

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Add the newspaper link to your post so we can read that too...

Need more info???

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Add the newspaper link to your post so we can read that too...

Need more info???

I tried to put a link--to the web site it didn't seem to work--lets see what happens

I'll try again

http://www.detnews.com/2005/health/0501/28/A01-73081.htm

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Not a comment regarding weather should recommend sueing or not, but we have a case up here in the northeast. Elderly gentleman drives through a small yard, through a fence, and into a major river during the winter months. He is able to get out of the vehicle and is plucked out of the water by a passing boat. Police get on scene and without the proper attire attempt to find the now submerged car and retreive the mother of the driver who is still in the passenger seat. They are unable to find the car, however dive officers show up soon after and from the time of incident to removal from water is about 30 minutes. The patient is worked in cardiac arrest and revived, however now has deficits (not actually sure what for deficits). There now sueing anyone and everyone for a slow response and lack of trying to save victim or some bull like that.

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I think that was a brave nurse, but she should've went through the chain of command atleast...another thing that question me is that if she saw it, how come she didn't do anything at that time?...

from the article: "a woman called the Bonnville home and identified herself as a Beaumont nurse. She said the doctors who removed the nail from Dimitri's heart accidentally put in a stitch over the teen's coronary artery -- reducing the blood supply to his heart-

She said there was a pretty serious problem with Dimitri's care and that we should look into it."

Poor kid been through so much, I would advise him to relax on the basketball thing....

KAL

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No I don't think I would ever tell someone to sue .But My husband did .He had a Pt come in his office that was complaining of head ache He said Pt had fell off the roof while useing a nail gun .Well he looked at the Xrays the ER doc had sent and the Pt had a 4 inch roofing nail left in middle of head by the ER doc .If the nail had gone one way or the other it would have killed him It was dead in the middle of his like a bullet . The Pt didn't sue but settled for Free care from the hospitail.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

Exactly,, what was her rational saying anything when she is likely to be caught up in that lawsuit also. Its not just the hospital and dr that get sued. If she knew something was amiss at the time why didnt she do something about it herself? We have avenues to pursue if we feel there has been a error in treatment. If nothing else tell the family to take him to another hospital when he was discharged the first time.

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Exactly,, what was her rational saying anything when she is likely to be caught up in that lawsuit also. Its not just the hospital and dr that get sued. If she knew something was amiss at the time why didnt she do something about it herself? We have avenues to pursue if we feel there has been a error in treatment. If nothing else tell the family to take him to another hospital when he was discharged the first time.

Also, if this "mystery" nurse or someone else who was there doesn't publicly come forward, there is absolutely no way to prove that the sutured artery ever happened at all. Something just doesn't seem right about that story.

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Telling a family about the malpractice that occurred is seen by some to be advocating for the patient and the family.

It is a very sensitive issue.

In my day to day practice, I see physicians and nurses do things which could be categorized as "questionable" with regard to what another competent practitioner would do in a similar situatuion. Are they "malpractice" or actions that need to be brought to the attention of the family ....and subject to litigation?....The truth is...some are.. and some are not!

The problem is...I am not sure which is which.

As nurses and physicians, we have access to information as a result of direct patient care, that no family member or attorney would ever think to ask for. The mandate we are all under to protect that information is a tremendous responsibility, and the basis for the trust placed in us by the healthcare consumer. The decision to provide information regarding care provided is not one that lies with any individual practitioner. It is a breach of caregiver-patient confidentiality, not to mention, in many cases, a viloation of federal law.

The few cases I have had first-hand experience with, invariably invloved a nurse or physician seeing something being done which, in their minds, contributed to the death or disability of a patient. Being upset about the outcome, the person ,usually emotionally motivated, took it upon themselves to report the event to a family member or, other person they knew would question the competence of the care provided.

I am not saying that there is no such thing as malpractice. Clearly, it occurs more often than we would all like to admit.

I am also not suggesting we "cover up" malpractice or ignore dangerous or unethical practitioners.

What I am saying is that the decision to report questionable practice does not lie with any one individual. There are proper mechanisms of reporting unacceptable or questionable patient care, none of which begin with an individual taking it upon themselves to notify a family member or attorney.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I believe it is a personal choice wether to sue or not, so it is up to the family involved.

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You are not a lawyer, you are a nurse.

End of story.

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