Documented that she silenced the alarm and assessed

documented that she silenced the alarm and assessed the patient, then it
did not happen.
In her defense statement, she may be able to claim she was also
overwhelmed due to the effects of understaffing. The best way to prove
this is to examine her documentation and patient assignment at the time
of the incident. Understaffing of facilities often increases the occurrence of
negligence claims. Being that the unit was already understaffed, this

LEGAL MALPRACTICE CASE 4
added stress required her to be present with her patients to avoid a
negligence case of her own. The biggest issue with Diana is there is no
way to account for this without providing vigorous charting. She would
have needed to document in real time that she notified Jefferey of the IV
pump alarm in the patient’s chart. Documentation in the electronic health
record will most certainly be useful for defense purposes in a malpractice
lawsuit (Lugtu, 2015).
Betty, the supervisor, played no role in the direct harm the patient.
She should have documented the brand and serial number of the specific
pump that was used in this case to be used as evidence . Doing this would
have shifted a portion of the liability away from staff members and towards
the malfunction of the machine. It would be in the best interest for the
hospital to avoid the use of the current IV pumps and find an alternative
until this case is resolved.
It is a legal and ethical liability to obtain consent prior to performing
or providing care to an individual. Dr. William Brady may not have to
assume liability in the case of Yolanda Pinnelas if the patient signed an
informed consent form releasing his liability. The informed consent should
reflect the procedure being performed, why it is being performed, along
with the risks and the benefits of it. Due to the extensive nature of the
procedure, verbal and implied consent are unacceptable to excuse the
physician form liability. Skin grafting poses a reasonable chance of an
adverse event, so the physician has a duty to discuss the risks most

LEGAL MALPRACTICE CASE 5
relevant to the procedure with the patient (Kakar, Gambhir, Singh, Kaur, &
Nanda, 2014).
Risk manager, Susan Post, and quality assurance director, Amy
Green, may be sued for negligence as well. They were aware of the
hospital’s short-staffing and nurses working double shifts at least three-
months prior to this issue. According to the scenario, they were in the
process of collecting data and working with a clinical nurse specialist. The
plaintiff’s lawyers will want proof of this data collection in court. During
this three-month span, they should have also been collaborating with nurse
management to address the possibility of temporarily changing patient
ratios or floating properly trained support staff. Risk reports should be on
file from any prior incidents related to staffing issues. In addition,
interventions may also be on file supporting their claims for finding
solutions to the staffing and schedules of nurses such as Jefferey.