In this scenario a patient had surgery and was administered anesthesia by a nurse-anesthetist that caused fatality. The fatality was due to the patient not receiving adequate oxygen that caused the patient to go into cardiac arrest because the nurse-anesthetist did not monitor the vital signs accurately. A surgeon helped assist in administering the initial anesthetic. In accordance of the doctrine of "respondeat superior” the surgeon has vicarious liability for the patient's death. To support this conclusion a thorough analysis is discussed by defining roles of vicarious and direct liability and proving negligence of the nurse-anesthetist and how they intersect with various ethical principles.
“Respondent superior is defined as a key doctrine …show more content…
“The Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year occur in American hospitals because of preventable errors (Jenkins & Lemak, 2009).” The surgeon helped administer the initial anesthetic and negligence occurred after the nurse failed to monitor the vital signs. Had the nurse-anesthetist took accurate vital signs after initial administration of anesthetic cardiac arrest could have been prevented or treated and these actions may have not resulted in the patient’s death. Ultimately, the nurse-anesthetist is directly liable because this is their expertise and anesthesia are their primary task and area of responsibility. Assumed that the patient’s autonomy was to elect surgery and live the medical professionals both failed to practice beneficence. Non-malfeasance was ignored due to the lack of accurate analysis of vital signs and harm was done. The ethical dilemma arrives at rendering justice for corrective action. Is it fair to equally distribute the liability of the patient’s death or solely crediting one medical professional to experience the consequence? Is the degree to which the actions and roles of the agents had in violating or adhering to ethical principles absolve or validate their
“Respondent superior is defined as a key doctrine …show more content…
“The Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year occur in American hospitals because of preventable errors (Jenkins & Lemak, 2009).” The surgeon helped administer the initial anesthetic and negligence occurred after the nurse failed to monitor the vital signs. Had the nurse-anesthetist took accurate vital signs after initial administration of anesthetic cardiac arrest could have been prevented or treated and these actions may have not resulted in the patient’s death. Ultimately, the nurse-anesthetist is directly liable because this is their expertise and anesthesia are their primary task and area of responsibility. Assumed that the patient’s autonomy was to elect surgery and live the medical professionals both failed to practice beneficence. Non-malfeasance was ignored due to the lack of accurate analysis of vital signs and harm was done. The ethical dilemma arrives at rendering justice for corrective action. Is it fair to equally distribute the liability of the patient’s death or solely crediting one medical professional to experience the consequence? Is the degree to which the actions and roles of the agents had in violating or adhering to ethical principles absolve or validate their