I just need some more insight. Mary Smith is a medical assistant who works for Dr. Jones. She receives a call from Trudy Hoover, a long-time patient of Dr. Jones who is complaining of pain. Trudy states that her pain began in her neck and is so severe that she cannot go to work, and is unable to care for her children. She further tells Mary that shes miserable and is unable to get out of bed. Trudy asks for some pain medication to give her relief. Mary explains to Trudy that Dr. Jones is attending a medical conference and will not be in the office until later in the afternoon. Mary tells Trudy that she will page Dr. Jones and get back in touch with her as soon as possible.
Mary proceeds to page Dr. Jones, but is not able to get in touch with him after several attempts. Mary then reluctantly calls Trudy back to inform her that she couldnt reach Dr. Jones. Trudy immediately starts crying and begins begging for pain medication, stating she simply cannot suffer another minute with the extreme pain. Since Trudy has been a patient of Dr. Jones for some time, Mary decides to call the pharmacy and order a new medication for her on behalf of Dr. Jones. She feels comfortable in doing this as it is the same medication and dose Dr. Jones has prescribed in the past for Trudy.
Later that day, Dr. Jones comes to Mary and demands to know what happened with Trudy Hoover as shes been rushed to the ER after experiencing what appears to be an anaphylactic reaction.
After arriving at the ER, Trudy was found to be in respiratory failure and intubated. She was transferred to the ICU where she eventually died.
Personally I believe that this could be a case of malpractice or professional negligence because of the fact that the nurse intended no harm, but call a prescription over the phone when she is not a physician. Or well its call "malfeasance."
mac
criminal
addsnake
That would fall under criminal case for a few reasons, the least of which being that the nurse has no authority to prescribe a drug.
Ranger4402
There would be a civil suit against the medical assistant and maybe the doctor too.
The medical assistant could face criminal charges because she engaged in an act she is not legally allowed to engage in. I suspect manslaughter would be the charge.
sgoldperson
It's criminal. It is illegally issuing a prescription, and I don't think that is considered malpractice. It's closer to fraud, since she was also impersonating the doctor in a sense, and there is crimes against writing a prescription like that. There will also likely be a Civil suit brought BY THE FAMILY for wrongful death. She may not have meant harm but she brought it through neglect.
colossus
CRIMINAL , the nurse will be prosecuted possibly for manslaughter,,, criminal negligence and theft... when she called in an un-prescribed prescription ( by un- prescribed I mean with out the doctors approval ) for that person, she may as well stole a prescription pad,,, it's the same thing,, she will have her nursing license pulled and she may do jail time and anyone who is crying for pain medication is an addict the doctors give you enough meds to get you from one time period to another ( like for a month ) if she was out then she took too much of her med. this should have been a "red flag" especially for a nurse that something was not right,,, she had no right or authority to do what she did the woman over dossed when she got her "fix" I am not against pain medication god knows its a good thing but can be easily become a real problem too! all nurses know better than that I am surprised that she did it
Orignal From: Tips: What are you thoughts to this question... Would this case be a civil or criminal?
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