More Ways To Be Sued

This would make a great law school exam question. The issue is foreseeability. The patient is admitted with a broken back. The x-ray clearly shows that two of the vertebra are fractured. The doctor decides to treat the patient by ordering the physical therapist to make her walk. The patient protests, but gives in when threatened. She stands up and immediately loses all sensation in her legs. Imagine. Who saw that coming?

The patient is being transferred to another hospital for neurosurgery, because we don't do that at our hospital. Hopefully, the neurosurgeon can remove the fractured vertebra that is now wedged against the spinal cord. If we are really lucky, she may even walk again. We never seem to run out of ways to be sued.

We have another patient who may get an infection because of another mistake that was made. I got report from the recovery room on a patient who had just had hip replacement surgery. Going into the room to get it ready for the patient, I couldn't help but notice that the room was dirty. It would be unusual, but possible that the patient was in that room prior to surgery and it was only her trash all over the room. I enquired and the answer was no. It was not her dirty room, it was the prior patient's dirty room and they forgot to clean it.

That problem could have been corrected before the patient arrived, except for one issue. The patient was arriving by bed and the bed came from the dirty room. ( Our orthopedic patients are place on the bed from their assigned room immediately after surgery.)

I asked about the previous patient from that room and was told that he had a scrotal infection. This is where you say ewwww. This lady's bare bottom was lying where the man's private area touched. I changed the sheets, but it was too late.