Legal Risks of Nurses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Legal Risks of Nurses - Essay Example After the death of Mr. Ard, Mrs. Ard presented a case in the court of law against East Jefferson General Hospital. The Ard v. East Jefferson General hospital case comprised of critical information and a well detailed account of events. The case involves Mr. Ard, a patient in the East Jefferson, his wife Mrs. Ard and the Jefferson hospital. Mr. Ard fell sick and was taken to the Jefferson hospital for quick recovery and appropriate medical care. After a five-vessel coronary surgery, the medical experts transferred Mr. Ard to the intensive care unit due to his long stay in the hospital’s recovery room. Later after two days, he had a respiratory failure, and he was taken to the critical care unit. On May 20, 1984, nurses and physicians did not respond in time when Mrs. Ard called for medical assistance from the medical experts after realizing that Mr. Ard was struggling to breath. They later responded after about an hour and 15 minutes time when the patient had ceased breathing and called a code. The assigned nurse also failed to take swallowing assessment on the patient. The patient failed to regain his consciousness and died from cardiac arrest and respiratory failure after two days. After his death, Mrs. Ard presented a case in the court of law against the East Jefferson General hospital for their failure to give proper attention to his sick husband. The district court accepted the case against the hospital and provided a ruling. However, the hospital appealed the case (Pozgar, 2012) According to the testimony of Mrs. Ard, his husband began experiencing a shortage of breath and a feeling of nauseous. After she had rang the bell for assistance from the hospital nurses or physicians, there was a no respond for a period of one hour fifteen minutes. This period or no response caused a great harm to Mr. Ard’s health. Secondly, Krebs revealed that the nurse responsible for