case study

Medical Malpractice Report

Megi Marina

HCM 515 – Health Law and Ethics

Instructor: David Milen

June 18, 2017

Introducton

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the issue of medical malpractice between the deceased patient John Parker age 35 years old and Dr. Green, a primary care physician in Littleville. Since, Mr. Parker was a new resident in Littleville, he purchased health care insurance through Littleville Family Health Plan (The Plan). He found Dr. Green through his insurance and decided to schedule an appointment since he was experiencing dizzy spells. Dr. Green gave John the wrong medication dosage, causing a heart attack and he died in a week and a half after. His wife filed a lawsuit against Dr. Green and The Plan. Dr. Green is sued for medical malpractice due to negligence and The Plan is sued for hiring physicians that are not competent enough for practicing medicine based on laws and norms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the death of Mr. Parker from a legal and ethical point of view and giving recommendations on how to avoid medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice

Moving is a hard time for everyone, especially when family has to move as well. Getting to know the area, neighbors, deciding which school to enroll the kids, and especially to choose a primary care physician for the family. This is harder when moving to an area without knowing anyone who can tell which medical facility is the best, what insurance to purchase and a good primary care to choose. Same happened to John Parker. In 2012, he and his family moved to Littleville. He did not know anyone in the area. The first thing he did as soon as he moved to Littlevill was purchasing a health insurance. He purchased a plan through Littleville Family Health Plan (The Plan). This plan connect patient with physicians, facilitating the process of choosing a primary care for people who have recently moved to Littleville.

One of the most important facts is the agreement that physicians sign with The Plan. The written agreement, physicians agree not to be employees of the company but they must practice with safety and privacy procedures, same as stated in the agreement. The problem is that The Plan does not give a copy of the agreement. Instead, it sends a brochure of 87 pages with the list of approved physicians so the members can choose their primary care.

In July, John Parker was experiencing some dizzy spells so he decided to make an appointment with Dr. Green. During his office visit, he explained to the doctor the symptoms and how was he feeling. After the examination, Dr. Green diagnosed Mr. Parker with Swinehausen’s Syndrome. The typical treatment is 10 mg of pentamite prescribed for three weeks. The medication is supposed to be affective after three weeks with some minor side effects. Dr. Green gave Mr. Parker some pentamite which pharmaceutical representative has given her, instead of writing a prescription for picking up in the pharmacy. However, Dr. Green misread the label, and prescribed him ten 10 mg of pentamine for three weeks. He had an overdose of pentamine which caused heart attack. Unfortunately, he passed away after that.

Mrs. Parker decided to sue Dr. Green and bring her to court due to negligence and for prescribing the wrong dosage of medication. She also sued The Littleville Family Health Plan for the same reason. Medical malpractice is the main legal issue in this case. Medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes injury to the patient (Bal, 2009). Dr. Green is negligent of the side effects of the prescribed medicine and without reading carefully the label, she prescribed to the patient even though she warned him of side effects. By law in the US, the physician needs to write a prescription and send it to the pharmacy where the patient can pick it up. Dr. Green went against the law, and decided to give Mr. Parker sample medications he received from a pharmaceutical representative. For this reason, she is guilty of medical malpractice.

Littleville Family Health Plan (The Plan) is guilty as well. The Plan is not sued for medical practice, but for negligence. Dr. Green was listed as an approved provided under The Plan. Even though Dr. Green signed the agreement form to be part of the Plan, she deviated from the norms of practice. During the time that Dr. Green signed the agreement with The Plan, she did not have a background of medical malpractice, so she was a trusted physician. However, Dr Green broke the agreement. Despite the fact that the agreement states that physicians are not employee or agent of the plan, physicians are required to sign the agreement and follow the requirements established by The Plan (Harris, 2014).

The first recommendation is to terminate the agreement with Dr. Green, to avoid future malpractice. The termination is coming up from her negligence that lead to the patient’s death. Besides protecting The Plan’s future business, it will show to perspective and future members, that The Plan does not support physicians who does not practice medicine based on the norms established by health care laws. This will avoid another medical malpractice. The second recommendation is an agreement between The Plan and the physicians regarding prescription. The physicians have to agree to write prescription and sent them to the pharmacy. This process will avoid another mistake because the pharmacist will be able to check the dosage prescribed by the physician.

By law in the United States, it is not allowed for physicians to give patients medication they have received from pharmaceutical representatives. Samples of medicine cannot substitute real prescriptions (Durand et al, 2015). By sending prescription to the pharmacy, it makes sure that the patient does receive the correct dosage. This law has to be included into the agreement, so physicians do not make the mistake by giving patients sample medications. When doctors practice medicine following health care laws, ethics and norms, it is a possible chance they make a mistake.

In conclusion, this situation could have been avoided. If Dr. Green would have followed the laws and norms, she would not have given Mr. Parker the wrong dosage of pentamine. Physicians have to follow the protocol by sending prescriptions to the pharmacy so patient can pick it up. This allows the pharmacist to check the dosage prescribed to make sure it is the correct one and it avoids complications. Health insurance plans needs to follow the protocol as well. If health insurance plans agree to contract a physician and include him/her in the approved list of physicians, it has to make sure that the physician does not have a background of medical malpractice and he/she agrees with the requirements stated by the health plan. Also, the health plan has to make sure that physicians understand the law and norms set by the government and healthcare specialists. If The Plan would have stated clearly in the agreement that physicians cannot give patients sample medications they receive from pharmaceutical representatives for few days, this would not have happened. Practicing medicine following the rules and norms should be required for every physician.

Reference

Bal, S. (2009). An Introduction to Medical Malpractice in the United States.

Durand, M., Moulton, B., Cockle, E., Mann, M., & elwyn, G. (2015). Can shared decision –

making reduce medical malpractice litigation? A systematic review. BMC Health

Services Research, 15(1), 1-11. Doi: 10.1186/s12913-015-0823-2

Moore, P. J. (2000). Medical malpractice: the effect of doctor-patient relations on medical

patient perceptions and malpractice intentions. Western Journal of Medicine,173(4), 244- 250. doi:10.1136/ewjm.173.4.244

Harris, D.M. (2014). Contemporary issues in healthcare law and ethics (4th ed).

Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.