LEGAL ISSUES AND CONCEPTS

LEGAL ISSUES AND CONCEPTS

Introduction

To obliged with the rules and regulations and the laws that pertain in a society, is the responsibility of every individual, however if someone is unable to do so is accountable for paying for it. It is the duty of the nurses to ensure that their patients get the best of the treatment, since health care is the utmost priority of a human being. To highlight the duties of a nurse a nursing practice act has been designed by the state that makes certain the responsibility of a nurse and he has a limitation over what he is allowed and trained to do. Nurses are supposed to follow a chain of command, which means that they could only practice what they have been asked by the care provider for instance a physician, and without his consent a nurse cannot prescribe any medicine to the patient, however if a nurse fails to do so, his act is punishable by the law and the family can file a law suit against the nurse (Westrick & Dempski, 2008).

In case of an emergency the nurse is supposed to act as patient's advocate and can only be referred to as a liaison between the patient and the doctor. Nurse has the responsibility to monitor the patient on a continuous basis and in case of any complaints and problems that may arise he should immediately notify the care provider, nurse should also ensure that the personal data of the patient is to be kept secret and not being obliged to it would result in code of ethics being violated. While administering the patient nurse is require to give only the specified amount of dose that has been stated by the doctor, providing a fatal amount of doses would again lead to legal issues.

Nurses are obliged to inform the family members of the patient about the negative effects of any treatment that is being provided and while signing the form of consent, he is supposed to ensure that the document is signed in front of a witness, which could be a physician or another nurse. The nurse is accountable for providing assistance to the patient on a continuous basis, however if due to some reason for instance is he is busy then he should ask another nurse to assist the patient, not being able to do so and bringing a lengthy delay in providing the assistance to the patient by ignoring him would be referred as negligence that could again result in family members filing a lawsuit against the nurse (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2007).

Discussion

The following section would further elaborate the importance of being obliged to law by nurses and what legal issues were faced by Mr. and Mrs. Ball at the hospital, that were against the law.

Legal Concepts

Being a nurse it is the utmost duty to make sure that you have been able to maintain and follow the standards that have been set under the nursing practice ...