Res Ipsa Negligence Case Study

Has there ever been accidents that defendants have done that is so negligent, that when people hear about it they simply cannot help but shake their heads and ask “what were they thinking of?” The term res ipsa loquitur is very similar to that type of thinking. Res ipsa loquitur is derived from the Latin language and when translated means “the thing speaks for itself” It is a doctrine that specifies that a breach of a party's duty of care may be concluded from the events that occurred (Learnscape). In other words, the breach is so obvious that there is an assumption of the breach of duty and the plaintiff does not need to provide extensive evidence, of the breach. And, the negligence speaks for itself (Duhaime). Jeff Passamore, legal counsel …show more content…
Price has filed a negligence lawsuit against the hospital due the event he went through, of his good leg getting amputated due to the careless of the hospitals staff. Prior to this event the hospital installed rules and regulations that was installed into place. Every other surgery the doctors make sure that they have a pre-surgical check-list that they use for this purpose. Everyone has to initial the area confirming that they are about to perform surgery on the correct body part. The correct leg was marked by both the patient and the doctor, however the surgical nurse prepped the wrong leg and that wrong leg was removed. It was negligence from the point of preparation forward. From the explanation of the nurse she claims that she was not knowledgeable of the procedures that occur before a surgery and that is why the mistake took …show more content…
When accidences occur in hospitals, the plaintiff is able to go to court and the hospital would be liable for their pain. In order to prove negligence in a personal injury lawsuit, a plaintiff has to provide evidence to show how the defendant’s negligence resulted in their injury. Sometimes, evidences of the defendant's negligence is not there, however plaintiffs can still use secondary evidence in order to establish negligence (William L. Prosser). In this case however res ipsa loquitur is very apparent because of the visible careless from the staff. When a patient is admitted, the department, and hospital owes a duty of care to this patient. Dr. West the doctor that facilitated the amputation, prior to the surgery the Doctor and the patient marked the leg that was supposed to be removed. However when Nurse Bobbi ended up marking the wrong leg causing the doctor to amputate the wrong leg. All evidence points to the hospital being the blame for this incident. Listening to Nurse Bobbi talk about her part of the accident shows how the health facility lack in following the hospital regulations and policies. These regulations and policies however are developed to provide safe and standard care for their patients, therefore not following them will cause another