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Chapter 10: Medical staff organization and malpractice
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Chapter 10: Medical staff organization and malpractice
Over the past decades, medicine and health care in the United States is rapidly evolving.
Just like any other company, this drastic change in health care has its disadvantages as well as
advantages. Firstly, the advancement in health care has offered more access to health care unlike
before. Again, it has provided diverse diagnostic choices for the health care professional and the
patient more so in cases of elective procedures. According to Lyford & Lash (2019), cost of
health care is one of the biggest cons of the health care system in the United States. For example,
most of the United States` GDP is spend on health care even though there is no enough proof to
show it. It is crucial to note that this burden of the increased health care cost is subjected to the
American citizens regardless of their socioeconomic status. Just like any other organization,
employees working in health care facilities are expected to accomplish particular tasks.
One of the departments in health care facility that is prone to litigations is the medical
staff. Every health care company has a medical director whose main aim is to ensure smooth
operation of the company. Their duties comprise of; ensuring that the laws and regulations of the
organizations are administered accordingly as well as ascertaining that everything operates
according to what has been determined by the specific committees. A good example of medical
staff organization and malpractice is the current investigation and sentencing of the
superintendent and medical director of the Holyoke soldiers`. In this case, both Dr. David and
Mr. Bennet Walsh are accused of clinical negligence due to the leadership ruling they made
during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to their decisions, several veterans lost their lives and the
coronavirus infections rose rapidly. This was recorded as the largest outbreak of Covid-19 in any
nursing home facility. Investigations carried out revealed that all patients were put together
regardless of whether one tested Covid-19 positive or negative. This was against the prevention
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guidelines laid by the center for disease control. Therefore, from the above scenario, one can
conclude that both Mr. Walsh and Dr. Clinton are accountable for negligence. Firstly, this is
because they should have shown care after they agreed to take the role and enrolling the veterans
into the facility. Again, the decisions they gave resulted to damage which is both death and
infection of not only veterans but also some personnel of the Holyoke Soldiers facility.
Moreover, they failed to adhere to the rules set by the Centre for Disease Control.
Notably, the medical staff organization can be caught in malpractice. Some of the most
possible areas where the medical staff organization are likely to commit malpractice are
infections as well as dealing with psychiatric patients. However, Liu & Hyman (2020), claims
that infections that a patient acquires during the time of receiving medical care and are not
evident during the admission time are very harmful to the entire health care system as well as the
main objective it aspires to achieve. Being a student on rotation, I was privileged to observe how
forms of medical cases entailing suicidal patients can turn to be complex abruptly. The patient
was to be observed for 24 hours by an assigned nursing assistant. The patient was later on
transferred to the inpatient ward for additional evaluation.
Ruth 2:12, “The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you
by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”. The bible
tells us that we will be paid for our deeds here on earth, so it is upon us to choose the type of
reward whether good or bad. As health care professionals we must administer quality care to
those who seek our services without being biased (Holy bible, 2010).
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References
Lyford, S., & Lash, T. A. (2019). America's Healthcare Cost Crisis. Generations, 43(4), 7-12.
Liu, J., & Hyman, D. A. (2020). The Impact of Medical Malpractice Reforms. Annual Review of
Law and Social Science, 16, 405-419.
Holy bible. (2010). Ruth 2:12