My name is Pat Iyer I have been a Legal Nurse Consultant since 1987In order to win a medical malpractice casethe plaintiff has to prove four things The staff had a duty to care for the patient,they breached their duty, there were damages, or injuriesand the injuries were caused by the actions of the health care providers
There’s a fifth element: the plaintiff Sometimes juries are very reluctantto give money to plaintiffsTo give you an example of this I want totell you the story of LindaI evaluated this case and testified asan expert witness
It involved a woman who was in an urbanhospitalShe was a substance abuser She came in because she had developed deep veinthrombosisShe was wandering around the hospitaland the nurses were not really payingattention to what she was doingor the reason why she was wandering
Thepatient was searchingNo one was paying attention to what shewas looking forShe went into a hallway where she foundan unlocked medication cartShe pulled open the drawers and shefound syringes
She also found a 30 CC vial ofLasix and a 30 CC vial of insulinShe injected herself with the contentsof both vialsWhy? Clearly, she wasn’t thinking,clearly The lasix was not harmful to herbut the whole vial of insulin caused her blood sugar to go down
When she was found having a seizureshe had a blood sugar of five This caused brain damageLet’s consider the four elements of a validmedical malpractice suitDid the nurses have a duty to observe herand keep that cart locked? Did they breach their dutyby leaving it unlocked in the hallway,were no one was paying attention to it?Did she become injured and was there alink between the actions of thehealth care providersand the injury? The answer to all thesequestions, in my opinion,was yes
The jury agreed that all thefour elements were presentbut they gave her no money at allI think they wondered what would happenif they gave her moneyWould she end up spending it on drugs?The attorney who handled this casehad never done a medical malpracticecase beforeHe told me after the trial that hewould never do another one
This was a real learning experience forhim,and an expensive lesson