Giving a deposition

What is the name of your state?

[ellencee]

Angelight
Too bad your friend did not remember what the responsibilites of an RN are when a patient is in need of immediate medical attention. An RN must NOT stop trying to get the physician to respond or come in to see the patient even if the RN has to go all the way to the Chief of Staff or the Hospital Administrator, including waking up everyone in the chain of command if it is in the middle of the night.

In your friend's case, she overstepped her duties as a nurse and violated the Nurse Practice Act by practicing medicine or exceeding the scope of her practice. She did so by assuming that she had the right to diagnose the condition as being appropriate to wait until morning or whenever the physician came in.

Your friend had the duty to notify her charge nurse, then the shift supervisor (RN), the Chief of Staff (MD), the Director of Nursing, the Hospital Administrator, and/or the ER physician. Your friend did not have the option of simply turning the patient over to the next shift in 'good shape'.

The deposition will scare her to death and she is likely to walk out of there in need of mental health counseling.

I suggest she call the Board of Nursing and ask for legal representation. Your friend may lose her license over this if she is found to have exceeded the scope of her practice or practiced medicine without a license.

I'd be getting an attorney on my side really, really fast.

Best wishes,
EC

She did get orders from the doctor.

This was an operating mistake. Not a nursing mistake.

I am sure there is lots more to this story.
She just never had to give a deposition before.

Thanks for your reply.

[ellencee]

An operating mistake is not one for which an RN can make the decision to not insist on a physician's seeing the patient. Your friend obviously thought the patient's condition warranted calling the doctor, not for orders but for him to come to the patient and assess the condition.

She called the doc several times for problems. But, he would not come.

Therefore, she accepted the responsibility of deciding that it was OK to leave the patient without medical assessment. That is where your friend may be in some serious trouble.

The deposition may be an initial deposition or it may be a thorough deposition. If your friend waltzes in there and says not my problem, it was an operating mistake, your friend can kiss her license goodbye.

You can bet your bottom dollar if the surgeon says that if the nurse had told him of the seriousness of the situation, he would have come in but the nurse didn't and your friend says it was the surgeon's fault, your friend will be the one who 'hangs'.

A patient, a real person with real loved ones, is dead because of negligence according to the family.

She feels she should have bugged the doctor more. But, she really did her best!! You cant make a doctor do anything.....ya know. She thinks of all the things she could have done. But, did not think at the time.

That is as close to an admission of liability and of guilt as it gets.

Your friend has admitted to you that she was negligent and failed in her duties and responsibilities. Your friend is about to be found guilty of medical malpractice and face some serious consequences from the Board of Nursing.

She needs an attorney STAT.



EC

Tell your friend a deposition is nothing to be afraid of. All she needs to do is to tell the truth. The hospital insurance carrier will have a lawyer there to help her.

[ellencee]

The deposition is most certainly something she should fear. The hospital's attorney has not met with her. If she goes in there and says what her 'friend' has posted, she is admitting to liability by exceeding the scope of her practice and/or practicing medicine without a license. I think she has every reason to be fearful.

The RN needs her own attorney to represent her in her upcoming hearing with the Board of Nursing. She may not have received her notice, yet, but she will.

I consulted on a very similar case in SC. The surgeon was not found negligent as he was denied the opportunity to intervene surgically because the nurse exceeded the scope of her practice by failing to insure that a physician DID see the patient. The hospital and the RN were found negligent. The RN lost her license to practice in SC or in any other state, permanently.

I consulted on a very similar case in NC. The RN was represented by her own attorney. The surgeon was not found negligent because the RN exceeded the scope of her practice by determining that the patient could wait until morning to be seen by an MD. The hospital and the RN were found negligent. The Board of Nursing restricted the RNs license until she completed additional classes at a college or university and applied to the Board for full reinstatement of her license.

I still say this RN needs her own attorney and she has much to fear as she did exceed the scope of her practice and has received no legal counsel to date.

Jack, you may not realize that not stopping until the entire chain of command has been notified is something that is taught from day one in RN programs and continues to be 'taught' in clinical care settings through 'inservice' programs. An RN can not make the determination to let a patient wait until morning; that is not within the scope of an RN's practice. That is a decision that only an MD can make.

***I forgot to state the most relevant facts--each of these claims settled after the deposition of the RN and neither went to trial!

(In SC, I consulted for the plaintiff; In NC, I consulted for the defense in both the medmal claim and the RN's licensure issue.)

EC

[pele]

Years ago, when working in a small hospital in NJ, I was called in on a Saturday afternoon to x-ray a child with Down's syndrome who fell off a roof. He clearly had a diagonal fracture through the innominate bone (oops! x-ray techs are not supposed to "read films"). The foreign resident on duty told me it was a "growth line" and went to the ER to discharge this child. I called the pediatrician and told him he should not allow the child to be discharged and to come in and see the films. Yes, the child did have a fractured pelvis and was admitted. So, I broke the first rule we were taught in x-ray school, don't read the films. But morally, how could I let that child go home?? Eventually, the hospital stopped hiring foreign residents and hired ER docs. There are times when the line is gray and if you know something is wrong, you can't pass it off, you have to keep trying until someone listens to you.

Pele

[ellencee]

pele
'Yea!' for you! Way to go!
EC

Right or wrong, a nurse is an agent of the hospital. Her errors are errors of the hospital. Every case I have worked, during depositions of nurses for any reason, a hospital (insurance carrier) lawyer is present and represents the nurse.

Thanks Jack

Will share this information with her.

I just ran across this post that was posted some days ago that is somewhat similar to med mal litigation in progress that my wife and myself are involved in as plantiffs. There is no need to go into the particulars of my case because the only apparent link is the failure of the RN to act in an appropriate and professional manner.

EC is very familiar with our particular case and I can tell you, although the horrible results were not the same, the RN involved in our case is the first person listed on the claim against the hospital. But, I had no idea until I read EC's reply to your post just how much trouble this particular RN could be in. Although I feel my attorney has all the bases covered I am going to print this and forward to him.

Folks, EC has the bases covered when an RN is involved.

Come to think of it the only time I think she was mistaken was during basketball season last year when she said North Carolina was going to beat Duke!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again, EC