Question

Discuss the concepts of negligence and intentional torts and give examples of these in the healthcare industry?

Answer 1

Patient seeks help of a healthcare professional in order to get their illness treated .When their is negligence and intentional torts it generally affects the health of the patient by causing them harm .

Concept of negligence is nothing but when a staff cares for a patient ,a harm or an injury can be prevented when appropriate care is provided with caution ,proper reasoning, interelating what can happen to a patient if an intervention is done or not ,lack of skills,time and knowledge can contribute to negligence

Eg. , Nurse administering medications to a patient without following rights of medication can cause medication error

A nurse in night shift failing to position a bed ridden patient every second hourly due to excessive work load .This will risk the patient to get pressure sore easily because of the nurses negligence in providing position change second hourly .

Intentional tort is nothing but when the healthcare professional providing care to a patient conducts an act which will definitely injure the patient physically or psychologically .

Eg. ,A nurse disclosing the patient information to a third person is an intentional tort. This is because there nurse has violated maintaining privacy and confidentiality of the patient information .