The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure 1

The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure 1

The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure

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The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure

Today, most medical employees do not have clear ideas about ethic and legal needs to report about errors. Developing a methodology error disclosure process is a very important task in the context of enhancing patient safety. The recognition and disclosing of committing medical errors are necessary for timely informing the patient to change his status and obtain consent for further treatment. Thus, disclosing medical errors is imperative from the legal and ethic side.

Disclosure of medical errors is hard process. It is caused by human nature. All of people admit their mistakes with great difficulty. It is very difficult for a person with psychological and social point of view. Physicians are not exceptions because they are human beings. The medical ethic has moral imperative to take patient’s interest above of all. Therefore, nondisclosure of medical error is more comfortable for doctor like a person, but it is not ethic act from professional point of view. Nondisclosure makes absurd all activity of clinic, because such policy does not have aim to achieve the patient’s benefit above all.

The legal patient's right to information is enshrined in all countries of the world and set out in the Health Acts. The laws of Maryland reinforce the need for disclosure errors in health care (Crigger & Holcomb, 2008). This ensures patient the right to receive information about his health, treatments, and prognosis of the disease. There are no cases in the law about permissibility of non-disclosure to the detriment of the patient.

I support an open discussion about errors in my nurse practice. The results of public opinion polls show that more than 90% of medicals support the idea of full disclosure of errors occurring in health care (Leape et al., 1991). Meanwhile, only a small part of doctors discuss their errors with colleagues(Blendonet al., 2002). As a rule, the possible negative effects of disclosure stop medicals. These consequences are the accusations of incompetence, negligence, and carelessness; loss of respect and credibility in the eyes of patients and colleagues; slowing career; litigation and associated time, the financial and emotional costs. It is thought that adverse events occur due to the fault of negative personality traits to make mistakes. The traditional method of eliminating defects in the work of healthcare organizations are still reprimanding and punish erring doctors (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000). Thus, I as the advanced practice nurse will always support the policy of disclosure and non-punishment medical employees who timely detect, correct and informed about their mistakes.

The doctor should monitor, adjust, and even change the recipes of treatment, taking into account the dynamics of pathological processes systematically. In order, it will help to achieve maximum success. If the results turn out to be lower than planned, a violation of medical care technology were made. Not amount doctors retreat from the standards of medical technology, but the results of these disorders are very dangerous to the patient and generate repeat surgery, long-term treatment and very high costs to eliminate rejection in the work (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000).

Only medical workers holding a doctor post may prescribe a prescription. This status should be in accordance with the legislation in the health care organization, an organization or an individual entrepreneur who has a special permit (license) for carrying out medical activities. The doctor should prescribe prescription clear and legible handwriting in ink or ballpoint pen to avoid mistakes when buying medicines. Corrections to the doctor's prescription are not allowed. The name of the drug is prescribed by a doctor in Latin for the general accessibility and understanding of the recipe in any corner of the world (Guide to Good Prescribing, 1994).

Therefore, the manifestation of the will to the disclosure of medical errors is necessary from the ethic and legal point of view. Disclosure of medical errors is right from legal and ethic point of view. It helps improve the quality of care significantly, prevent harm to the health of patients; reduce the economic costs of health care.

References

Blendon, R. J., Desroches, C. M., Brodie, M., Benson, J. M., Rosen, A. B., Schneider, E., . . . Steffenson, A. E. (2002). Views of Practicing Physicians and the Public on Medical Errors. New England Journal of Medicine,347(24), 1933-1940. doi:10.1056/nejmsa022151

Crigger, N. (2008). Improving nurse practitioner practice through rational prescribing. TheJournal for Nurse Practitioners, 4 (2), 120–125

Guide to Good Prescribing - A Practical Manual. (1994). Retrieved September 08, 2016, from

Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S. (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Leape L. L.,Brennan T., A.,Laird, N.,Lawthers A., G.,Localio A., R.,Barnes B. A.,Hebert, L.,...Weiler P. C.(1991).The nature of adverse events in hospitalized patients. Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study II.The New England Journal of Medicine.324(6),377-384.