Respondeat Superior - Article Example

The policy can only be implemented successfully in institutions whereby the employer has full control, over employees' acts and it can be proven that the cause of injury was controllable within the employer’s professional scope. Respondeat superior encourages responsibility in both personal and professional spheres. This is because it makes individuals realize that at the end of the day someone has to take responsibility for actions. The rationale beyond holding the employer liable is because he or she should have the right and authority to guide and control his staffs acts hence prevent malpractices that may lead to unnecessary loss of life.

The article is about risk management and legal issues in health care institutions and was addressed to health care practitioners following the alarming rise of cases of deaths that result from negligence in the United States. A Report released by the Institute of Medicine (2004) indicates that negligence and errors caused by the medical staff account for more than 45,000 deaths of hospitalized patients every year. This rate is higher than deaths resulting from motor vehicle accidents currently at 43,000 and breast cancer.

The report triggered the need for immediate action in both private and public health institutions to prevent unnecessary deaths. According to the Institute of Medicine, employers are responsible for 90% of the deaths because of factors like organization policies, operating under low standards and lack of necessary facilities to facilitate the treatment process in their health care institutions. Campaigns were launched to encourage employers to assume responsibility through ensuring that their health care institutions and the policies out in place are more focused on sufficient health care delivery.

The campaign was aimed at transforming complex health care systems to ensure that patient safety was given the first priority in different health acre settings. The mishaps and misunderstandings result from poor work environments, human errors and broken systems. Risk management is a challenge to health care providers and thus mangers and executives should have a good understanding of the health care laws. Moreover, laws like respondeat superior are put in place to protect the organization, employees and the public and ensure that legal actions are taken where necessary.

Literature indicates that providing health care services in poor working environment and fallible humans increases the opportunities for misunderstandings and errors. Health care institutions are guided by civil law where offenses between individuals and the started are compensated financially. For example, intentional torts that are based on malpractice suits and the offenders are required to compensate their patients for the pain or injury resulting from the malpractice. On the other hand, negligence is caused by practitioners’ failure to use a certain degree of care that another professional at the same level would have used under the same circumstances.

Medical malpractice entails professional negligence on the part of the practitioner when he or she is executing his or her duties. According to Croke (2003), legal cases of negligence and injury resulting from professional malpractice are on the rise with aggrieved patients seeking for court intervention. For instance, in Alabama law suit, patents filed a case on the pain and injury caused by