Legal and Ethical Aspects of Medication Administration Case Study - Essay Example

Legal and Ethical Aspects of Medication Administration Case Study BACKGROUND Discuss the set of circumstances surrounded the medication error? In the article, ‘To Err Is Human – But for Some Nurses, a Crime’, the set of circumstances that surround the medication errors in all three cases mainly include little negligence which caused the death of people. For example, in the first case, the patient was asked to wait for some time which led to her death. In the second case, the nursing staff overdosed the little infants which caused the death of three of them.

Moreover, in the third case, did a mistake in a gynecological medical procedure that led to the death of the mother. In the first two cases, the charges are being considered by the state, whereas in the third case, the nurse who made the error was sentenced to the probation of two years.POSITIONTake a position with either the “plaintiff” or “defense” and discuss? I would take the position with the plaintiffs in the first and third case. Whatever the case is, it is the responsibility of the health providers to provide best medical services to the patients and with full care and attention.

Patients come to health providers for medical care. They do not expect such blunders from them which can even take their lives. Therefore, charges should be made against the people involved in medical errors to make them and others aware of the consequences of showing negligence, as well as to make them feel their responsibility. However, in the second case, the pharmacy technician should be held responsible because he/she was the one who stocked incorrect medicine for infants.PREVENTIONDiscuss how this error could have been prevented.

All three errors made in the cases described in the article could have been prevented if the clinical staff would have shown some responsibility. For example, in the first case, the person responsible for providing the medical care should have checked the patient at the right time instead of letting her wait for a long time. It is clear that she forgot to check her within time because making a patient wait for almost two hours does not make any sense. In the second case, the chances of prevention of error were less because nurses usually use the medicine stored in the right places.

Pharmacy technician could have prevented this error by placing the right medicine at the right place. Moreover, in the third case, the error could have been prevented if a senior gynecologist would have supervised the medical procedure instead of letting the nurse perform the complex medical procedure on her own.ETHICSDiscuss one ethical concern surrounding this case and relate it to the ANA Code of Ethics. Be sure to specifically cite the code of Ethics? In the first case, the primacy of the needs of patients surrounds the case because a nurse should feel the responsibility of providing correct care to the patient at the correct time.

Section 2.1 (primacy of the patient’s interests) of the 2nd provision, section 4.1 (acceptance of accountability and responsibility) of the 4th provision, and section 8.1 (health needs and concerns) apply in this case. In the second case, the nurse should have collaborated with the pharmacy technician to ensure the provision of the right medicine to the infants. Section 2.3 (collaboration) of the 2nd provision of the code of ethics applies in this case. In the third case, the head nurse should have supervised the medical procedure.

Therefore, section 2.3 (collaboration) of the 2nd provision of the code of ethics also applies in this case.LESSONS LEARNEDDiscuss lessons learned from this case including ways to prevention further medication error. Be sure to include points from “To Err is Human” from the IOM 199 report. The lesson learned from the cases is that nursing professionals should feel their responsibilities and should pay extra attention to the health needs of patients in roder to reduce the chances of medical errors.

One of the points from the ‘To Err Is Human’ from the IOM 199 report is that errors result in loss of trust in the medical system. Similarly, another point is that patients feel psychological discomfort for a long time if they face some disability as a result of medical errors. Therefore, clinical professionals should adhere to the code of ethics while providing care to patients.