Case Study: Darling-Health Care's benchmark case Medicine Essay

Case Study: Darling Health Care’s Benchmark Case
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Case Study: Darling Health Care’s Benchmark Case
The landmark case, Darling v. Charleston Community Memorial Hospital, also called Darling Health Care’s Benchmark Case, reflects a responsibility bestowed up the healthcare organizations as the custodian of healthcare quality. The hospital owns the responsibility of ensuring that the quality of healthcare is delivered to the patients. In this case, the legal question is to determine the extent to which a hospital is held liable for failing to ensure that its resources, including human staff, comprised of physicians and nurses, among others, provide an optimal and quality standard of care. When staff’s practice does not meet expected professional standards, should the hospital be held responsible for damages?
The hospital failed in its ethical duty to the patient. Though the facility was an accredited community hospital, the physician on emergency duty who treated the plaintiff on that day was Dr. Alexander, a general practitioner who had not treated a primary leg fracture for three years. Even though the physicians provided care by reducing the fracture and ensuring regular visits, he failed to refer the patient for specialist care, leading to adverse progression marked by infections and ultimate amputation. He failed in his duty of care to provide optimal care by a call for more advanced care, including involving an orthopedic surgeon’s review in a timely approach. Further, the nursing staff was negligent too. Nurses did not monitor the patient appropriately and report. The hospital was negligent for failing to have adequate trained nurses for bedside care of all patients at all times. These nurses were expected to have the competence of recognizing the progressive gangrenous situation of the plaintiff’s right leg. In this case, the nurses also fail to report the patient’s condition to the hospital administration and staff, which could have allo...