Addiction problems - Case Study Example

Medical Law Essays I. Case Study: Mrs. Smith was aged 85 and on 28 November 2009 was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. On 1st December 2009, she was being assisted by a nurse to get out of bed when she slipped on a wet floor and sustained a fractured neck of her right femur. This was treated surgically on 2 December 2009. She died of a pulmonary embolism following a deep vein thrombosis on 10 December 2009. Discuss the possible verdicts a Coroner might consider at the subsequent Inquest. One scenario is that the nurse could be sued for the fractured neck of the patient's femur. Another scenario is that the hospital might be sued for the fractured neck of the patient's right femur. The doctor could be charged with malpractice for the way in which he handled the pulmonary embolism for surgery. The hospital could be liable for the surgery gone wrong. Additionally, as a fifth scenario, the hospital might be liable for the patient's death, in which case, it would be a wrongful death lawsuit. As a sixth scenario, the hospital could get sued for negligence for the patient's death. The first scenario is that the nurse could be sued for negligence in the matter of the patient having fractured the neck of her femur. The nurse was supposed to be helping the patient avoid such a travesty. Since this accident happened on her watch, she would be liable. In negligence, the person preventing the wrong from happening to the other person has a duty of care. "Under the new rules, the existence of a duty states will depend on three factors: the foreseeability of damage occurring; the proximity of the relationship between the claimant and defendant; and whether it is just in the circumstances to impose a duty of care."1 From the nurse's point of view, since Mrs. Smith was aged 85, it should be a reasonable assumption to make that this nurse would have foreseen such an accident happening. Additionally, the nurse's proximity to the patient was such that she should probably have been aware of the patient's difficulty, although, proximity of the nurse to the patient would have to be established. Also, it is probably just to assume that the circumstances under which the nurse found herself required her to impose a duty of care. The second scenario is that the hospital could be sued for the patient's fractured femur. Obviously, this would probably not happen since the patient is already deceased, and litigation would obviously be moved to address the patient's death. In that case, the hospital could definitely be held liable for the patient's surgery having gone awry. After all, doctors are places that are supposed to help people get better, not allow them to pass away. Hospitals are technically supposed to be helping people. They are not necessarily liable for an unforeseen problem such as a pulmonary embolism, but it could be that the hospital's practices which were put in place had something to do with the patient's demise. If this was the case, the hospital could certainly be liable. The doctor could be charged with a malpractice suit due to negligence on his part if he knew that the procedure he used was not correct, or if he made a mistake during surgery. This is not necessarily what happened, but it is unsure. That is why, at the Inquest, it must be mapped out what needs to be found out in terms of evidence. The way the doctor handled the pulmonary embolism is sure to affect the outcome of the Inquest. Additionally, the hospital could be involved in a wrongful death lawsuit. This would be because the patient would not have had to have surgery if the patient had not slipped and fell due to the hospital staff's negligence. In this case, the hospital would probably take on the lawsuit and most likely win. Hospitals are notorious for doing this kind of thing. They are infamous for committing negligent acts and then sweeping them under the proverbial rug, hidden from the public's bird's-eye view. Another possibility is that the hospital might face a negligence lawsuit it the patient's family can prove that the nurse did not fulfill her duty of care, and that therefore the hospital was liable for anything that might have happened beyond that point. Negligence is a very serious offense, and this would severely destroy any hospital's good reputation. Once people hear that a hospital has been sued for negligence, it is very possible that other patients will not want to be associated with such an outfit. It is very possible that this hospital's reputation would be under jeopardy for the years to come as it would seek to erase a bad record from peoples' memories. However, memories linger. Although people may forgive, they certainly do not forget. One of the key aspects that could happen with all of these cases, as lawsuits, is that someone was to blame for this poor woman's death. Even though she was older, she did not deserve to die in such a fashion. She could have died of natural causes later in her life if she had not been neglected in the sense that her caregiver or nurse was not watching her, and then, later, when she had surgery to correct her problem, she then had a pulmonary embolism. It is possible really that nothing could have been done to stop the pulmonary embolism, because those are really generated from the person and there is not much the medical staff of the hospital could have done unless they induced the pulmonary embolism themselves or introduced it into the patient's system. The bottom line is that someone should be responsible for one or more aspects of this woman's demise. What it basically comes to is that this woman was left alone in a time when she shouldn't have and then had to have surgery which was resultant in a negative outcome. This shouldn't be the case. [Word Count: 1000] II. Case Study: Critically evaluate a real life scenario debating a key issue / dilemma in relation to substance misuse in forensic practice. It is not uncommon in the news for people to hear about a person who has a mental health condition being arrested for doing something illegal. Many times these people have problems with: comorbidity; family; and their own psychiatric problem. Comorbidity is a serious problem. Also called dual diagnosis, these people usually have an issue in tandem with their psychiatric problem, the former half of which is going to be discussed here. These problems, such as drug and alcohol abuse, can take over a person's life. Rarely is the case seen where a person with mental illness who commits a crime does not have some kind of dual diagnosis. Usually the problem is with drugs, but alcohol can definitely also certainly be a factor. Here, for comorbidity purposes, we will focus on the effect that drugs and alcohol can have in a mental patient's health. Drugs are, first and foremost, a hindrance to any person's mental health, including but not limited to mental health patients. The problem of addiction is mainly a problem of the fact that everything in a person's environment can remind one of how one used to use a drug. Therefore, addiction is a lifelong problem. Any one moment, a person could have a relapse and start using the drug again. This is what is so devastating about drug usage. Someone could start using drugs once again after days, weeks, months, or even years of having abstained from using illegal drugs. Basically, the bottom line is that almost anything could be a trigger-the neighborhood where one used to buy drugs, the people one used to hang out with, etcetera. Even seeing a simulated module of someone using cocaine, a razor, a dollar bill-all of these simulations, when tested in a laboratory environment, were likely to stimulate the parts of the brain that associated the drug use with good memories. Thus, the draw of the drug world is very strong because there are certain associations that can trigger a person to go into relapse. One of the problems of addiction is that it affects the pleasure centers in the brain. A pleasurable experience is going to want to be experienced over and over again. This has been proven in an experiment with rats and mice. When receiving an electric shock that was no more than a tickle on the skin, stimulated in a part of the animals' brains, they would neglect food, water, and sleep in order to receive the stimulus over and over again. Thus, it is possible for people to experience the same problem with addiction. If people become addicts, they will do almost anything to experience the same high they first got when they experienced a drug. However, what is proven to happen in most cases is that peoples' highs almost never reach the same levels later on that they did in the beginning. However, that craving for the illegal substance is still there because the amygdala in the brain cues the brain for receiving that drug at specific intervals. The more one has, the more one wants. Alcohol is a particularly strong drug. Although not illegal, alcohol has the ability to act as an addictive drug as well. Depending on what type of alcohol is consuming, the alcohol content in a beverage can greatly affect the level of drunkenness a person experiences. Although, for some people, it really doesn't matter, especially if they are alcoholics. Alcoholics will pick up a drink and will simply not be able to stop drinking because it is like a cycle. They drink one drink, and they can go on benders where they will binge-drink for months. Of course, every alcoholic is different. Some people are closet drinkers-they drink in secret. Other people are able to slightly veil their problem. However, it becomes apparent that people have problems when one can smell alcohol on the alcoholic's breath. Usually people can tell when someone is an alcoholic when that is the case. Most normal peoples' breath does not smell like vodka or whiskey, for example. A person's breath becomes a prime example of how one can tell if someone is an alcoholic or not. A lot of people who are alcoholics, as well as smokers, usually try to cover their proverbial tracks by washing out their mouth with mouthwash. However, this usually doesn't work that well and only makes it more obvious that the person has some kind of problem when it is tried to be hidden. Sometimes that can make a problem more pronounced if a person tries to hide it. Peoples' family structures really determine how they will develop later on in life. It is said that a child's early development influences the factor as to whether the child will later on become dependent on alcohol when he or she becomes an adult. One's family structure matters a great deal in order to determine how the child will develop into an adult. Usually people who fall into drug and alcohol problems did not have a very solid, dependable family structure growing up. Sometimes kids are alienated by their parents' actions. Sometimes the family is rich or perhaps family members are not that close as a family. There are a multitude of factors that influence how a child develops into an adult, but that is not an exhaustive list of reasons why someone would turn to drugs and alcohol as an outlet. Peoples' mental health conditions are also what can be the underlying problems that are exacerbated by the use of drugs and alcohol. Particularly at-risk populations include schizophrenics and manic-depressives, who may turn to drugs and alcohol in order to distort their realities in order to forget their problems. It is advised that if anyone knows someone with a mental health problem, that person should encourage the individual to get professional help. [Word Count: 1000] REFERENCES Negligence claims in duty of care: Donoghue v. Stevenson and the neighbour principle in English law. http://law.suite101.com/article.cfm/negligence_claims_and_duty_of_care. 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