1. Legal Risk to Nurses
ASHFORD UNIVERSITY
Legal Risk to Nurses
James A. Davis Jr.
Dr. Cynthia Davis – MHA 622 Health Care Ethics and Law
6/20/2011

2. Legal Risk to Nurses
Abstract
This paper will attempt to prove that Mr. Ard did not have a chance to survive because of lack of
supervision by his nursing staff. We will further attempt to prove that the employer is responsible
for the actions or non actions of its medical staff. The medical staff did not make appropriate
rounds and they did not provide the proper care that one would require and need in a medical
setting. Communications between the patient and staff did not take place until Mr.Ard was near
death. Mrs. Ard rang the bell for nearly a two hour period of time and no help came to assistance
of Mr. Ard. Where were the nurse, were they asleep or were they off duty? These questions will
be answered during this paper.
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3. Legal Risk to Nurses
Introduction
We will attempt to answer some very basic questions about a case that took place on May
20, with a patient by the name of Mr. Ard. This patient was in pain and had a shortness of
breathe; he was given medication for nausea. It seems to me that this patient needed something
for his pain and shortness of breathe. There appears to be a problem with the response time of the
medical personnel. After, Mr. Ard was given something for his nausea, he was not checked on by
any of the medical staff to determine if he was doing any better. Based on the testimony of Mrs.
Ard her husbands condition became worse and it lead to his death (Ard vs. East Jefferson Gen.
Hospital, 1994).
The question then becomes what took place doing this incident and could it have been
prevented if staff would have responded appropriately?
1. What happened?
2. Why did things go wrong?
3. What were the relevant legal issues?
4. How could the event have been prevented?
5. What is your verdict
During this paper we will attempt to answer all of these very vital questions for the reader.
What happened?
There was a failure to communicate and a failure to supervise the patient.Nursing
documentation has been stigmatized as burdensome, excessive, and of little use or interest to
others. It is not surprising that practicing RNs view documentation as a low priority (American
Nurses Association (2001). In, this case there was very little documentation of the patient’s
condition and the rounds that needed to be made to ensure that he was getting the medical
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4. Legal Risk to Nurses
attention that he needed. It would seem to me that if a patient wo has his attention bell ringing for
more than an hour an half, someone would have heard it. As outcome-based measures of
performance become increasingly adopted in healthcare, accurate and comprehensive
documentation of nursing practice must be essential to maintaining and increasing nursing's
influences within institutions and in health policy decisions. Nurses need to resist the elimination
of comprehensive nursing documentation for a short-term gain, but a long term loss.
Documentation is a critical component of nursing practice, not an afterthought (American Nurses
Association (2001).
Why did things go wrong?
Things might have gone wrong because there may have been an omission in the patient’s
health care plan of him being a high risk patient. If, he was high risk he should have been in a
high risk area. There are potential legal risks to the exclusion of documentation or the adoption
of new documentation methods. Again, the comprehensiveness of nursing documentation and its
relevance to the client's health are critical. None of these areas were seen as a priority in this
case. With the emergence of methods such as "charting by exception," nurses face increased risk
of not having the evidence they might need to defend themselves in the event of legal actions, as
in this case.
What were the relevant legal issues?
Whenever, a practitioner fails to make use of available information in the case of Mr.Ard there is
a very high risk of being sued. This is especially true when making practice decisions. For
example, if nursing decision-supportsare available, and a nurse does not use it, and an incorrect
diagnosis or intervention plan is made, there is potential liability. When there is access to
scientific knowledge bases that would improve the accuracy of the practitioner's clinical
decisions and the nurse does not access those knowledge bases, there is greater legal risk in the
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5. Legal Risk to Nurses
event of an incorrect and harmful decision. All of these issues were disregarded and in our
opinion helped to cause his death. The assigned nurse was Ms. Florscheim who did not perform a
full assessment of Mr. Ard, s status after he vomited. This action was in direct violation of a
nurse’s policies and procedures. A test to determine if the patient could swallow was not done
and documentation was done to rule out this as being a concern. Proper care was not a concern in
this case. There is an expectation of standard care whenever patients are in the care and custody
of professionals (American Nurses Association. "Nursing Facts: Today's Registered Nurse -
Numbers and Demographics" Washington, D.C., American Nurses Association, 2006).
Could it have been prevented?
Yes, there is no doubt that the patient could have been given better care. If, he would have
lived out the night is another question. Was it his time to leave this world and would he have
died of something else? We will never know. But, what we do know is that he did not get the
care that he needed.
Conclusion
An attempt to answer some very basic questions about a case that took place on May 20, with a
patient by the name of Mr. Ard. This patient was in pain and had a shortness of breathe; he was
given medication for nausea. It seems to me that this patient needed something for his pain and
shortness of breathe. There appears to be a problem with the response time of the medical
personnel. After, Mr. Ard was given something for his nausea, he was not checked on by any of
the medical staff to determine if he was doing any better.Based on the testimony of Mrs. Ard her
husbands condition became worse and it lead to his death.Nurses need to resist the elimination of
comprehensive nursing documentation for a short-term gain, but a long term loss.
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6. Legal Risk to Nurses
Documentation is a critical component of nursing practice, not an afterthought.When there is
access to scientific knowledge bases that would improve the accuracy of the practitioner's
clinical decisions and the nurse does not access those knowledge bases, there is greater legal risk
in the event of an incorrect and harmful decision. All of these issues were disregarded and in our
opinion helped to cause his death. The assigned nurse was Ms. Florscheim who did not perform a
full assessment of Mr. Ard, s status after he vomited. This action was in direct violation of a
nurse’s policies and procedures. A test to determine if the patient could swallow was not done
and documentation was done to rule out this as being a concern. Proper care was not a concern in
this case. There was an expectation of standard care whenever patients are in the care and
custody of professionals. There is no doubt that the patient could have been given better care. If,
he would have lived out the night is another question. Was it his time to leave this world and
would he have died of something else? We will never know. But, what we do know is that he did
not get the care that he needed. The court was right to find in favor of Mrs. Ard.
References
1. American Nurses Association (2001). ANA workplace health and safety guide for nurses:
OSHA and NIOSH resources. Washington, D.C. ANA Publishing.
2. American Nurses Association (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive
statements. Washington, D.C. ANA Publishing.
3. Ard vs. Jefferson General Hospital, 636 So. 2d 1042 (la. Ct. App. 1994)
4. American Nurses Association. "Nursing Facts: Today's Registered Nurse - Numbers and
Demographics" Washington, D.C., American Nurses Association, 2006.
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