Pre-Op Room: A Case Study Of Ethical Dilemmas

Even though most of the medical errors committed by medical practitioners are not intentional, it is advisable that the medical practitioner discloses the errors to avoid adverse effects. It is notable that patients wish to be informed of the nature of the medical error, how and why it happened, and how to prevent recurrences and mitigate the side effects. Nevertheless, most physicians are not ready to disclose medical errors. In fact, disclosure likelihood decreases with increase in severity of the error. One of the ethical guidelines for physicians is to promote wellbeing of their patients. In some instances, further healthcare can be sought to correct the effects of an error. However, without informing the patient of the error, it is not possible to make informed decision for treatment follow-up. If the physician decides to further treatment as a result of medical error, the issue would be to determine whether the consent given by the patient was informed because he did not understand the reason for further treatment. This way, the physician can suffer legal implications …show more content…
Upon getting into the room, she finds the solution that has been prepared by Lucy and confuses it with the one she was preparing since she cannot see hers. The solution she finds is unlabeled and thus she is convinced that it is the one she was preparing. She goes on finalizing with the preparation and goes ahead to administer it to the patient. A few minutes later, Lucy gets back to the room and realizes that Anne has used the mixture she was preparing for a different patient. Lucy is shocked that the solution had penicillin admixture. Having been resuscitated earlier for using IV fluid containing penicillin, Mr. X should not be subjected to further risks of suffering another respiratory arrest. The major problem is that Anne has given Mr. X IV fluid with penicillin, which is risky to his