IHP 420 Case Study Analysis

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IHP 420 Case Study Analyses
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IHP 420 Case Study Analyses
Background
 In the case, the 46-year old male patient was later pronounced dead after being brought into the hospital following an automobile accident after having received morphine intravenously. The patient denied blood transfusion and failed to disclose he had injected heroin, drank tequila and beer. Negligence is the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise, which results in another person or people suffering injury (Miller & Cross, 2014). In the tort of negligence, it is expected that there is the required duty of care. The estate was sued for medical malpractice, and there is considering negligence considering death from overdose, failure to undertake blood transfusion, and subdural hematoma.
If death was the result of an overdose
An actor's action is considered to determine whether there was negligence and if the death resulted from an overdose. The patient's death was linked to the automobile accident, and while the death was preventable, the physician acted without knowledge about the patient's drinking and drugs in his system. The doctor's defense would be that there was no breach of duty, while the patient suffered damage because of the overdose. If the patient was not on drugs and drunk, there was a low risk of an accident, making bad choices.
If death was the result of failure to administer blood
The patient chose not to get blood administered, which was within this right as patients make choices and physicians respect patient autonomy. However, the doctors are duty-bound to provide the best care and ensure improvement in the health outcome. Administrating the blood would likely have prevented premature dea...