The Legal Concept of Tort - Assignment Example

? TORT LAW Identify and discuss the legal concept of tort. A tort is a civil wrong committed by a tortfeasor/defendant against another person called the plaintiff (the injured person). When a tort has been committed, the plaintiff succumbs to injuries/losses. The losses sustained by the plaintiff may take numerous forms such as: economic losses, violation of one’s constitutional rights, reputation damage, privacy violation, emotional injuries, physical injuries among other torts. In addition, a tort comprises of other violations that may occur under the following topics: defamation, environmental pollution, false imprisonment, infringement of someone else copy rights to mention just but a few. Normally, a tort may occur as a result of unintentional or intentional negligence by the defendant. The law provides a remedy for a civil wrong committed against the plaintiff whereby, the defendant may be required to pay legal damages in form of monetary compensation to the plaintiff. In some situations, the court may issue restrictive orders to the defendant to act as a punitive punishment for his/her tortious acts (Ashley, 2004). In the case of Robert Courtney, various aspects of a tort can be observed. For example, Hunter, a doctor at Kansas City who used to order Chemotherapy drugs from Courtney pharmacy found that Courtney used to dilute cancer prescription such as Gemzal and Taxol whereby, after the patients had consumed those drugs their situation got worse. Among the cancer patients injured by Robert Courtney tortious acts include: Mary Rhoades and other four thousand, two hundred patients who had consumed Courtney prescription by the time Courtney was arrested (O'Donnell, 2005). This means that Courtney did not only injure the patients but also the families and friends of those patients who died as a result of consuming Courtney prescriptions. In addition, Courtney subjected his patients to various losses such extreme bodily injuries, emotional suffering and financial losses because the cost they incurred in purchasing Robert Courtney’s drugs that ended up jeopardizing their lives. The Second aspect of a tort in this case can be observed on a contract made between Robert Courtney and Mr. Eli. Lilly, a giant manufacturer of pharmaceutical drugs in Kansas City, whereby, the contract specified that Mr. Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company will be supplying cancer drugs to Robert Courtney pharmacies. Mr Courtney went ahead to bridge the contract as well tarnishing the reputation of Mr. Eli Lilly company by diluting drugs. Further to this, Robert Courtney used to carry out patent infringement by manufacturing drugs from scratch and using the labels and brand names of Mr.Elil pharmaceutical company. Therefore, based on this case it can be observed that Courtney committed various torts not only to the patients but also by tarnishing the reputation of Mr. Eli Lilly, pharmaceutical manufacturing company. This made Mr Eli Lilly to lose customers leading to financial losses. In addition, the goodwill/reputation of Mr. Eli Lilly business was vandalised by Mr. Courtney tortious acts. In addition, Mr. Eli Lilly was further subjected to various law suits due to Robert Courtney greediness and negligence at the expense of the cancer patients (Pozgar & Santucci, 2009). Based upon your research and assessment of the case, is there sufficient evidence to suggest this was an intentional tort? Explain why or why not? There is sufficient evidence to indicate that this was an intentional tort. The first evidence arises from the fact that Mr .Robert Courtney was a professional pharmacist who had gone through rigorous training to become a pharmacist. As a professional pharmacist he was taught about ethos and ethics in medical profession which he blatantly violated by diluting chemotherapy drugs administered to cancer patients. It was reported that after high school Robert Courtney was admitted at the University of Missouri-Kansas city in the year 1975 where he studied pharmacy. After graduation he established his own pharmacy in Kansas City at Research Medical Towers. This implies that Courtney was a trained pharmacist who clearly understood the adverse impacts of diluting chemotherapies (Gemzal and Taxol) to cancer patients. He owed the patients a duty of care and when he diluted the drugs he was in a clear breach of that duty of care. This was the highest level of intentional tort that a trained pharmacist can execute towards his patients. The second evidence, is based on the fact that he started buying drugs from a grey market and diluting them in order to increase his profits at the expenses of cancer patients. Thirdly, he used to manufacture drugs from scratch despite the fact that he had no professional qualifications in biochemistry. In addition, he did not have the items for testing the quality standards of the drugs he used to manufacture. This is clear evidence that Mr. Robert Courtney had executed an intentional tort (Pozgar, 2012). Who was impacted by his actions? Courtney actions impacted numerous people ranging from; Mary Rhoades, other four thousand two hundred patients who had consumed Courtney prescription by the time Courtney arrest. In addition, Mr Eli Lilly and his pharmaceutical company were greatly injured by Robert Courtney action because the reputation of his business was destroyed. In addition, his business incurred economic losses due to patent infringement. Moreover, Doctor Hunter at Kansas City hospital was also injured by Courtney actions. This is because after treating his patients using drugs supplied by Courtney, their health condition worsened. This made the patients to question his expertise as a professional doctor (Morris, 2013). Were there any lawsuits filed as a result of his actions? Various law suits were filed against Robert Courtney actions. It was been reported that after Courtney arrest in 2001, three hundred cases from different plaintiffs were filed. The first case involved Georgia Hayes against Mr Eli Lilly Company. Hayes was compensated $2.9 million dollars. Other suits were filed later where the plaintiffs received an average of $199,500 dollars. It was reported that $23,200 dollars were given out as compensation to 84 plaintiffs who filed their suits immediately after the settlement of Hayes case (Morris, 2013). References Ashley, R. C. (2004). The fourth element of negligence. Critical Care Nurse, 24(4), 78-79. Morris.M.(2013,June,5).Fairness questioned in $72.1 million Courtney drug-dilution settlement.Retrieved :< http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/05/4275710/court-filing-raises-fairness-issue.html> on 12th December 2013. Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. M. (2009). Legal essentials of health care administration. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Pozgar, G. D. (2012). Legal aspects of health care administration. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning. O'Donnell, J. T. (2005). Drug injury: Liability, analysis and prevention. Tucson: Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company. Read More