Thursday, August 18, 2011

How to get sued

How to get your hospital emergency department sued for malpractice:

  1. After people have been seen by the triage nurse (and triaged less than "emergency"), have them seen by a nurse
  2. Have the nurse take a detailed history, record it in a computer system but not actually do anything
  3. Have them seen by a doctor who does not have access to (or chooses to ignore) the computer system, takes his own history and diagnoses/prescribes accordingly
Any misdiagnosis which would have been avoided by the doctor having information which the patient provided to the nurse will be 100% on the hospital.

Yes, this is what at least one tertiary hospital in Brisbane does on a routine basis.

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