Evaluation of the Potential Liability - Case Study Example

The entities had active involvement in this particular incident as all of them including Bobby were primarily involved in this catastrophic event. Also, the nurse and the surgeon contributed to the eventual outcome as they were involved in inappropriate treatment and surgery that Bobby underwent (Smith, 2009).

‘ACE sports’, as the organization, was responsible for building the brand new backboard and rim in the school playground where the accident took place. It can be ascertained as one of the potentially liable entities in this scenario as depicted a significant extent of negligence in preparing the backboard and especially the rim. The rim had small loose metal prices which can be a result of a lack of focus on product quality by the company. It should have given top priority to ensuring and building a safe and secure sporting arena.

Also, the topmost priority should have been given to the fact that all those athletes (mainly school students) who were involved in this activity needed to be assured of proper first aid facilities in the arena itself. Moreover, the surgeon and the nurse had made contributions to Bobby’s surgery but they could have assisted Booby in a better manner. Based on the provided instance, it seemed that the surgery was completed in such a hurry that it got declared that by mistake Bobby’s left wrist got amputated instead of his right. Consequently, it is found that to address the scenario an additional corrective surgery took place which resulted in Bobby losing his both wrists.

This scenario refers to severe negligence on the part of doctors as in such a critical medical exigency the concerned authorities depicted a lack of focus towards their work which became fatal for an innocent individual Bobby. Also, the nurse who assisted Bobby seemed to perform those activities that did not make much sense. The nurse told Bobby to put pressure on his wounds that do not seem appropriate at all. Moreover, there was a huge gap that seemed to exist on the part of City General hospital as it did not seem to comply with basic medical standards. The hospital did not provide medical services to Bobby as he was running out of finance and during the time of emergency, Bobby’s mother did not receive any kind of response from the insurance agencies as well (Smith, 2009).

There are essentially four elements of negligence that seem to reflect on the part of the healthcare professionals:
Duty: The first and foremost aspect of a healthcare unit is to perform one’s duty in an orderly and appropriate manner. If anyone is found to be not complying with the medical standards in performing his/her basic duties then it can result in negligence (Okrent, 2009; Statsky, 2011).
Breach: These aspects are considered to take place when one does not seem to obey medical or industrial standards and comply with the basic rules (Statsky, 2011).
Causation: It is an act that generally reflects inappropriate behavior on the part of the medical care unit that results in causing harm to the patients who undergo treatment (Statsky, 2011).

Damage: Damage is a very serious element of negligence that brings about harm to a patient in matters associated with health and safety (Statsky, 2011).
All the elements of negligence apply to ACE Sports, the nurse, the surgeon, and City General as all of them were found to be involved in activities that greatly reflected negligence from each of their parts. ACE Sports can be detained under breach element as it did not pay proper care towards the quality of supplied material. Moreover, the nurse, the surgeon, and City General can be detained under the elements of duty, causation, and damage as well (Statsky, 2011).

EMTALA was enacted in the year 1986 by the United States Congress. It is an act that was introduced specially for those citizens who did not have enough money to undergo critical surgeries and also for those who were not backed up by medical insurance. This Act supported proper medical treatment for all those who cannot afford medical services and also ensured timely medical services (Lafferty, 2008).

However, if Bobby’s mother was aware of the application of EMTALA then she could have easily made her son undergo proper medical treatment at the City General hospital itself (Lafferty, 2008).
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence is essentially a legal defense that is utilized in civil lawsuits. This concept was originally introduced to create a deterrent in all kinds of actions that reflected negligence in medical care units. This term strongly takes into consideration the punishment of those offenders who do not comply with the medical standards (Statsky, 2011).

It can be administered to a greater degree in cases of liability on the part of the medical care units. The Act can provide variable amounts of punishment to the offenders who refuse to deliver medical services when it is mostly required (Statsky, 2011).
‘Joint and several liabilities’ can be related to the legal responsibilities that a medical unit share when all the members of the unit do not comply with the basic medical standards. For example, in this particular case scenario, ACE Sports, the nurse, the surgeon, and City General shared joint liabilities (Ashley, 2004). Read More