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Incorrect IV Fluid: Court Finds Nursing Negligence.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
There was no evidence to contradict the family's expert's testimony that the nurse gave the patient the wrong IV fluid. The nurse was negligent, and there was no rational basis for the jury to decide there was no negligence committed at the hospital. COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO October 26, 2016
The parents brought their five year-old son to the hospital's emergency department because his condition seemed to be getting worse even though he had been taking his antibiotics for his ear infection for several days. After being seen by the triage nurse the patient was seen by the emergency department physician. The physician believed the boy was in shock.
The physician ordered a normal saline IV. However, the nurse mistakenly started an IV of dextrose 5% in 1/2 normal saline.
As the patient deteriorated he was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit. He was intubated when his labs came back showing severe acidosis. The patient died early the next morning.
The Court of Appeals of Ohio threw out the jury's verdict of no negligence and ordered a new trial. The hospital's experts testified at trial that the boy had a preexisting congenital narrowing of the left coronary artery which led to the acidosis which caused his death. However, the Court focused on the nurse's own testimony that she did not know the difference between the IV fluid that was ordered and the one that she gave, which she thought were both the same thing. The Court was not willing to set aside its belief that the nurse's negligence was the root cause of the unfortunate outcome.
Cromer v. Hospital, 2016 WL 6269489 (Ohio App., October 26, 2016).More from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/IV-medication-standard-of-care.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/ivinfection.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/IV-pole-negligence.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/ivline.htm