Read the case study You be the Judge presented at the end of Chapter 18 which begins, “The older adult male patient was admitted…” (Guido, p. 363) and answer the following questions:
Was the nurse negligent for not questioning the use of morphine for a patient with blunt abdominal pain before administering the dose of morphine?
Would knowing that the patient’s blood pressure was 148/94 when the morphine was administered impact the finding of the trial court?
What evidence would you argue in the nurse’s defense regarding the care of this patient?
How would you decide this case?
Read the case study You be the Judge presented at the end of Chapter 19 that begins, “An 82-year-old patient…” (Guido, p. 394) and answer the following questions:
What initial care should the patient have received in the emergency center?
Did the emergency department staff meet the standards of care for a patient with these presenting signs and symptoms?
Was the admission to the intensive care area a violation of the EMTALA law?
How would you decide this case and what provisions of the EMTALA law would you anticipate the court enumerated in its holding?
Read the case study You be the Judge presented at the end of Chapter 20 (Guido, p. 415) beginning with, “The patient was a detainee,…” and answer the following questions:
Should the nurses have followed the physician’s orders and continued the ordered medications, which varied significantly from his pre-jail medications, specifically his medications for pain?
Was it deliberate indifference to the patient’s medical needs to change his pain medications in the belief that he needed to withdraw from narcotics?
What more could the nurse have done to prevent a lawsuit from being filed for an Eighth Amendment violation?
How would you expect the court decided this case?
Read the case study You be the Judge presented at the end of Chapter 21 (Guido, p. 440-441) beginning with, “An elderly woman was admitted to the hospital…” and answer the following questions:
What types of questions should be asked of the social worker and the other individual who witnessed her signature on the will?
What other evidence should be requested of the nursing staff to best ascertain her cognitive ability at the time she dictated how she wanted the will drafted and at the time she signed the document?
Does the fact that she had been estranged for many years from the sibling whose children are now suing factor into the final decision of the court?
How would you decide this case?
