A nurse was faced with a lawsuit after an incident that occurred last year. The male nurse was caring for a quadriplegic man when a fatal error was made. A Wisconsin judge has awarded the family millions in a medical malpractice suit.
The nurse was in the middle of a routine home visit when the accident took place. As he had his patient on a massage table to provide care, he turned away for a brief moment. He failed to properly restrain the patient, which ultimately led to a horrific fall. The nurse assisted the patient back to the table, not knowing that there were significant injuries, including a broken hip. The nurse proceeded back to performing exercises on the man’s right leg, which led to horrible pain.
The patient underwent surgery, but efforts to save his life failed and he died. The board of nursing has suspended the nurse’s license and discovered that he failed to properly record the fall in the patient’s daily record. The judge awarded the victim’s family $1,130,000 in compensation.
It is undoubtedly the duty of medical staff to provide safe and adequate care to any patient they attend to. In some instances, as with this one, a patient’s death is a result of negligence at the hands of someone else. Surviving family members of a victim who has died due to medical negligence retain the right to pursue a medical malpractice claim against the medical staff member or even the company itself. As with this case, monetary damages may be awarded in Wisconsin if the care provider is deemed the responsible party.
Source: FOX Milwaukee, Mom says $1.1M award is ‘justice’ for dead son, Bryan Polcyn, Oct. 2, 2013
