Negligence and tort law in the healthcare field - Case Study Example

As the name indicates, negligence occurs due to unusual and ignorant behavior of individuals which causes serious harm to others. In other words it can be defined as doing something that is far from rational and expected behavior. Negligence in healthcare field is comparatively more dangerous in comparison to other professions. The tort law is also very strict in this respect due to the fact that healthcare field is primarily responsible to extend services to the people regarding their health and everything related to it.

Following are the fundamental elements of negligence (Sharma, 2010): A legal duty to practice due care Violation of the duty Resulting damage Medical Malpractice or Medical Negligence is solely committed by a healthcare professional. The list includes, but is not limited to doctors, nurses and pharmaceutical experts. Medical negligence might result in serious injuries to the patient. Since medical professionals maintain the most prestigious and the noblest relationship with patients therefore they are required to build clear understanding of negligence and tort law that particularly exist in healthcare field (Sharma, 2010).

Research indicates that in the recent times the relationship of patients and medical professionals is greatly influenced by internal and external environmental factors. For instance, in this modern age doctors often fall prey to negligence and tort law. The core reasons for such an attitude are (Sharma, 2010): Increased consumers’ knowledge Lack of proper communication Commercialization of Healthcare institutions Increased expectations from the doctors Case Study This tort law case revolves around the negligence of medical staff which resulted in death of an 82 years old woman.

The case was filed in court of New Jersey by the only child of an old woman. The woman was initially diagnosed with multiple severe diseases for which she had to undergo some of the most expensive and critical treatment procedures in Bergen County - a state nursing home. She was brought to the nursing home in a very poor condition as she had completely lost her body balance and consciousness. Due to extreme weakness she required assistance of medical staff for every single thing which includes getting out of the bed and operating a wheel chair.

There was an alarm attached to her wheel chair so that if she tries to stand up without assistance then the sound of alarm will call the nursing staff to save her from falling down. With time the patient developed dementia which causes harm to human rational thinking process and she began acting very confused. In the meantime the hospital management appointed a nurse with comparatively poor career history (Study, 2012). One day the patient tried to standup on her own from the wheel chair which ultimately resulted in her falling down on her head and suffering several severe injuries.

She was lying in her own blood when some visitor to the hospital saw her and rushed to help the lady. The visitor called for help again and again and finally within two hour of the fall the lady was taken to the hospital. There it was discovered that she had broken her neck’s veins due to which there was internal bleeding and her trachea was blocked. Consequently she was unable to breath and died soon after reaching the hospital (Study, 2012). The daughter of the old filed the case with the above mentioned details while on the other hand the nursing staff including the nurse on duty