Medical Mal-Practice - Research Paper Example

Data Mal Practice Introduction Medical mal-practice is the deliberate or accidental professional negligence by health officers in offering treatment to their patients. The negligence involves giving services that fall below the required standards in the medical field. Medical Mal-practice could seriously harm the patient. Sometimes it even results to death to the patient involved in the mal-practice. In cases of medical mal-practice, the victims are legally allowed to sue the medical practitioners and the institutions for damages incurred on their health. In order for a case to be legally identified as a medical mal-practice, the plaintiff needs to provide evidence that covers the four negligence tort essentials. These include proof that the physician involved was indeed taking care of the patient, proof that the physician’s services were not parallel to the accepted standards of care, proof that the malpractice caused harm to the plaintiff and physical proof like economic losses or bodily harm that shows the damage caused by the mal-practice. Many physicians have in one time or the other been involved in mal-practice that was either out of sheer intentional negligence or accidental negligence. Most of the physicians in medicine take insurance covers to protect them from the economic losses that may amount from mal-practice cases. Physicians are expected to be very cautious in their practices since the human body is very delicate and a mal-practice could be fatal in certain cases. It is therefore important that physicians to always be accountable for their actions. Signs of an infected puncture wound A puncture wound is an injury in the skin that opens up the dermis of the human skin and goes deep into the human body. Puncture wounds are caused by objects like knives, metal, wood and other materials that penetrate through the skin and could possibly reach the internal organs of the victim. There are minor and major puncture wounds1. Minor puncture wounds are easily treated by regular thorough cleaning. Major puncture wounds in the other hand require for physicians attention to administer special care since they can be fatal if left unattended. Depending on the level of infection, a puncture wound has some distinct symptoms when it gets infected. The most common symptom for an infected puncture wound is the presence of pus. Pus is a greenish or yellow fluid that oozes out of a wound when it gets infected. When a puncture wound starts producing pus, it also starts producing a bad odor especially if the wound is not cleaned regularly. The presence of pus is normally accompanied with an increase in pain when little pressure is applied on the wound. Pus is normally a sign of bacterial infection2. At the first sight of pus in the wound, the patient’s lymph nodes will have swelled up. The lymphatic system is responsible for fighting bacterial infections. The lymph nodes contain lymphocytes which fight against foreign bodies like bacterial infections. The lymphocytes attempt to fight the increasing number of bacteria in the wound. The bacteria fight back and they may infect the lymph nodes making them to swell. Swollen lymph nodes are painful when pressure is exerted on them3. After sometime, the swollen lymph nodes disappear. The wound may also be producing watery fluids that are not necessarily puss. These fluids provide a very good medium for the bacteria to infest the wound and to enter the body. When the puncture wound starts producing such fluids, it should be immediately washed with clean warm water with antiseptics in order to kill the bacteria that will have already found their way in the wound. This also prevents the multiplication of bacteria in the wound. A physician should be consulted if the fluid does not stop oozing4. Another common sign of an infected puncture wound is the area around the wound turning color. The area may become red or purple depending on an individual’s skin color. The region that changes color may also get swollen and very painful when little pressure is applied on it. The color change is normally gradual and it becomes more conspicuous as the infection gets worse. This is usually the case when one lets a puncture wound close up on the skin while the inner wound has not healed properly5. After the wound and the areas around it have started changing color, there could be peeling of the skin around the wound area. This occurs mostly when the infection is internal and spreading fast to the flesh below the skin that surrounds the wound. The patient experiences urges to scratch these areas and when they do, the skin peels off leaving the areas red and hot. After some time when the itchiness has gone, the areas surrounding the wound become as painful as the wound itself. If left untreated, the infection can spread to vast areas of the body6. Extreme pain in the area surrounding the wound area and in the flesh around that area is also a common sign of an infected puncture wound. Normally, a puncture wound that is healing gradually decreases in pain in a similar way. However, if the pain increases, it means that the wound has been infected. Infected wounds are sensitive to the slightest pressure applied on them7. Depending on the severity of the puncture wound, an infected wound triggers fever. A person with a major puncture wound may experience mild fever after the injury. Severe fever occurs once the wound has been infected. The patient may experience fevers of over 100 degrees F. Fevers caused by wound infection are portrayed through profuse sweating, the patient trembling with pain and thirst. The patient may also not be able to sleep due to the fever8. Another sign of an infected puncture wound is red streaks originating from the wound. Puncture wounds always break blood vessels. An infection in the wound also affects the blood vessels around the wound making them swell and sometimes breaking them again. This causes more bleeding in the wound. If the wound is not properly cleaned, the infection can spread to other body organs9. In cases where the puncture would is deep to the bone, the patient may experience sharp pain in the bone. If the wound is on the leg for instance, it becomes impossible to even place the foot on the ground. The patient develops a slight fever as the infections spreads further and they may even notice the area most infected by the shifts in pain. Generally, an infection in a puncture wound doubles the pain in the first stages of infection10. Puncture wounds are very painful and the patient should experience the pain all through the healing process, however, in certain occurrences, an infection in the wound may cause numbness on the wound and the body parts surrounding it11. The patient stops experiencing the normal pain and they can easily confuse this to complete healing since they can apply pressure on the wound and not feel much pain. The areas surrounding the wound may also be numb and insensitive to touch. An infected puncture wound stops healing and starts to deteriorate instead. The opening on the skin may start opening up further, exposing body tissue instead of closing up. The muscles and flesh may also get swollen and open up the healing skin. This is usually the time when pus starts appearing and the wound becomes abnormally painful even without exerting any pressure on it12. Another sign of an infected puncture wound is when it keeps on bleeding even after applying the required amount of pressure that would normally stop the bleeding. Infected tissue breaks the blood vessels and it is hard for the veins to close up with the constant swelling that the infected puncture wound experiences. Such a wound may bleed constantly for days without stopping if it is ignored. Infected wounds should be treated with antiseptics and where necessary, the patient should be injected with a tetanus shot13. Stages of infection in a punctured wound For minor puncture wounds, the stages of infection start with slight swelling on the wound and the regions surrounding it. Then the wound starts becoming painful when pressure is applied on it. Then pus starts oozing out of the wound. The lymph nodes start swelling too. At this stage, the patient is fully aware of the infection and thorough and regular cleaning with antiseptics should stop the infection, letting the wound heal slowly14. With the major puncture wounds, the symptoms stages start with the wound starting to change color and swelling in the area surrounding the wound15. Lymph nodes get swollen. Intense pain follows and the wound can barely be touched without the patient feeling pain. If the wound is not attended to by a qualified physician, the fever stage sets in. during this stage, the wound is extremely painful and it may start producing stinking pus. The damaged skin opens up revealing the infected tissue. Bleeding may be profuse at this stage of infection. The stage that follows if the wound is not given medical attention is rotting of the infected flesh. Numbness may be experienced in the body parts around the wound. After this stage, the patient develops severe fever and they could develop other complications in the body as the infection spreads. Why not treating a puncture wound with antibiotics is mal-practice All qualified physicians possess the general knowledge that an open wound is very susceptible to bacterial infections. Puncture wounds should be regularly cleaned with antiseptics to avoid bacterial infections as the wound heals. Failure to do so causes infection. A physician should be able to tell when a wound is infected and the stage of infection that it is in at the time of infection discovery. Similarly, they should know exactly what to do to stop the infection and to treat the wound16. A competent physician would not think twice about administering antibiotics to a patient who has an infected puncture wound. Antibiotics help the body in fighting the infectious bacterial and they facilitate quick healing for the wounds. A physician who fails to use antibiotics on such a patient endangers the patient life and deliberately lets them suffer from the pain that an infected wound brings. This is outright mal-practice and a breach to the medical standards17. A physician should alleviate a patient from pain and health risks. A red, swollen, stinking, oozing puncture wound has gone through all the stages of infection and the physician attending to a patient with this wound should give the patient the required antibiotics as quickly as possible since the next stage of infection would be rotting in the wound. Tetanus is a very serious fatal disease. A doctor who deliberately fails to use antibiotics to treat their patient who has an infected puncture wound knowingly predisposes the patient to contracting the deadly disease. The South Carolina Medical Act clearly defines a physician as a licensed health professional who is obliged by the law to safeguard the life of patients. Unprofessional conduct goes against the medical practice act18. South Carolina Medical Act According to the South Carolina medical act, neglect of physicians on a patient that causes the patient additional pain is mal-practice. According to section 36 part C of the medical practice act, it is the duty of a medical practitioner to prevent and to diagnose pain in their patients. Neglect like deliberately failing to administer antibiotics to a patient with a red, swollen, stinking, oozing puncture wound goes against the South Carolina Medical Practice act19. Physicians are expected to be protecting life. According to the South Carolina Medical Act, nobody should threaten the life of the other. Even physicians are not allowed to assist in the termination of their patient’s lives. The act says that physicians should administer relevant legal drugs to their patients in an attempt to save their lives even if the consumption of the medicines predisposes the patient to higher chances of death. It is therefore an incompetent act to fail to administer the right medication to a patient20. Sometimes physicians misdiagnose their patients. This occurs mostly when the patients have certain uncommon diseases that have similar symptoms as the common ailments. Once the physicians go through the patient’s symptoms, they prescribe drugs to them that are not effective to the ailments or even drugs that further harms their health. According to the South Carolina Medical Practice act, a physician should only prescribe drugs to a patient after thorough tests and scrutiny on their symptoms. Prescribing medication to a patient without conducting thorough tests is incompetence of the highest order on the physician’s part21. Conclusion Physician mal-practice is a very serious injustice for the involved patient. The harming effect of medical practitioners’ neglect, misconduct, unprofessional conduct, and incompetence can be fatal to the patient. If not so, the patients’ health may be severely affected. There have been cases where patients have lost their eyesight, become infertile and developed other complications due to a misdiagnosis of their ailments. Some of these harmful effects are irreversible. The law provides for grounds for the patients to seek justice when they are victims of medical mal-practice. However, even if the patients end up being compensated by the physicians and their institutions, there is no definite value placed on health. Physicians should not just do whatever they please because they are covered by insurance companies. Life is sacred and doing anything to threaten it is not only illegal but also morally and ethically wrong. Physicians should uphold maximum care when diagnosing and treating patients. Very harsh measures should be taken against incompetent physicians. Bibliography Borkar, Rujuta (2010). Signs and Symptoms of Puncture Wound Infection. Buzzle.com. 2010. Web. 9 June 2012. Paul, P. 2008. Achieving Balance in Federal & State Pain Policy: A Guide to Evaluation. Pain and Policy studies group, 5(1), 1-12. Pearce, JM Notes on tetanus (lockjaw) J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 60(3) (1996) 332. Reichardt, Paul F. Gawain and the image of the wound. PMLA 99(2) (1984) 154–161. Read More