Homework 3B Legal Aspects of nursing - Essay Example

By the nurse unlocking the bathroom door and allowing the patient, Judy to shower by herself is a case that can be argued out both to be negligence on one hand and not negligence on the other hand. This act amounts to negligence following the fact that the nurse left the patient under no watch yet it is required that such kind of a patient should be under strict watch throughout and should not be left alone before they fully recover. Judy was found alone when she wanted to hang herself using a rope, this means that when given time alone anymore, gross mistake can be committed because the nurse do not know what Judy is capable of doing.

Therefore, the nurse was not supposed to leave Judy alone in a place like a bathroom where there are several harmful objects that a patient like Judy can use to accomplish what they have really wanted to do over a long period of time. On the other hand, it was a bright idea for the nurse to have left Judy to shower alone and with the bathroom door unlocked. This is an act that the patient requires to make them feel free when doing something which might make them have a sharp reflection over their lives and try to recollect the broken pieces together which can also , greatly provide a solution to the patient.

In as much as Judy wanted to commit suicide, she also deserved to have some peaceful moment on her own may be while she’s showering to relieve her at least from some kind of stress. The other issue here is that fact that the bathroom door was left unlocked. This was a good practice that can not amount to negligence whatsoever due to the fact that; by leaving the door open, it would be very easy to monitor the patient and even to come to their rescue in case of any trouble unlike when the bathroom door could have been locked.

The nurse however, needed to ensure that the patient was not left alone at any one time and even certain tools that could be used by the patient to accomplish a suicidal act were not left anywhere at the disposal of the patient. It was in order for the nurse to have left the bathroom door unlocked when the psychiatrist has come to see Judy since at that moment, the psychiatrist or any other person could pop into the bathroom and watch over Judy to see how she was faring on or even notice earlier if she was planning to do something that could take away her life again.

Once such a thought had been realized, plans could have been put underway to rescue her earlier enough before any gross injuries could be caused. However, the nurse needed to keep a close check when the psychiatrist was leaving so that the nurse could take over and watch over the patient and make sure she is not left alone in the bathroom (Austin, Bergium, & Goldberg, 2003). To prevent this injury that was caused to Judy, the nurse, instead of letting Judy take a bath on her own, could have assisted her to take a bath or could have stayed with her in the bathroom and then ensured that she was taken back to her resting room safely where continuous monitoring was being done to her.

From a legal perspective, the patient was under the control of this particular nurse, therefore the nurse was obligated to offer all the services that were duly