Question

On April 27, 1983, Jane and Jim Jones were married. On July 4, 1983, the newlyweds received the happy news from their family doctor, Dr. Kagen that Jane was expecting their first child. The Joneses found an OBGYN named Dr. Kay to guide them through the pregnancy and delivery. Dr. Kay had been an OBGYN for 20 years and was then employed at San Angelo Medical Center in San Angelo, Texas along with three other OBGYNs.

The Joneses were very excited for their first baby. Jane followed all of Dr. Kay’s instructions, took her vitamins, read baby books and followed a regular pregnancy exercise routine. She and her husband never missed a doctor’s appointment. By all accounts, the pregnancy progressed perfectly. The Joneses learned that their child was going to be a girl and they decided to name her Emma.

On the evening of March 29, 1984, Jane began having contractions and Jim drove her to San Angelo Medical Center for the delivery. Upon arrival at the hospital, the Joneses were informed for the first time that Dr. Kay had gone on vacation and was not available to deliver their child. The Joneses were worried, but Jane was progressing very quickly and would have the baby soon.   The attending nurses set Jane up in a labor and delivery room and made several efforts to contact Dr. Kay, but were unsuccessful. It was typical hospital policy at that time for the OBGYN to perform deliveries with the assistance of the attending nurses, but none of the nurses had ever performed a delivery alone.

The nurses called the floor’s charge nurse, who informed them that she had called another OBGYN and they needed wait until he arrived, and instruct the patient not to push.

Even though the nurses had never performed a delivery, they felt as though they could perform this one by themselves, and so they ignored their supervisor and proceeded with the delivery. Everything was going smoothly until she became stuck in the birth canal. The nurses, unsure of how to proceed, determined that the use of forceps was necessary in order to complete the delivery. Emma was delivered successfully, but suffered facial nerve damage and cerebral palsy as a result of the force applied to her head and face by the forceps during delivery.   

Jim and Jane are very upset and are unsure how they will pay for Emma’s probably lifelong medical bills. They want to bring negligence actions against Dr. Kay, the nursing staff and San Angelo Medical Center.

Please discuss any negligence actions you feel the Joneses may be able to bring in this case and whether or not you think they will be successful.

Next, please discuss any medical responsibilities that existed here and whether or not they were appropriately followed. If you find that a medical responsibility was not followed, please indicate if the failure to follow the responsibility led to a medical error, and if so, what should have been done differently to prevent that error.

Answer 1

Medical assistants are unlicensed parental figures who work essentially in specialists' workplaces and facilities, in spite of the fact that they may likewise work in healing centers in a few states. Each state figures out what a medical assistant is permitted to do, so their errands may differ starting with one state then onto the next. In all states, notwithstanding, a medical assistant must work under the supervision of a specialist or authorized nurse, for example, a RN or LPN/LVN.

Tolerant Assessments and Care

Introductory patient evaluations are a vast piece of the MA obligations.

Evaluations include checking a patient's fundamental signs, playing out a physical exam and acquiring the patient's medical history. Indispensable signs incorporate circulatory strain, beat, breathing rate and temperature.

The physical exam includes estimating stature and weight, and also searching for distortions or anomalies on the patient's body.

A medical assistant acquires a medical history by getting some information about their medical conditions, solutions and sensitivities. The MA records any discoveries into the patient outlines and cautions the doctor of the outcomes.

Understanding consideration comprises of helping patients with versatility, expelling attire covering harassed parts and exercises of day by day living that incorporate cleanliness and toileting.

Testing Duties

1. A specialist will advise the MA which tests to perform on every patient. A MA pursues conventions that clarify in detail how each test is to be performed. Conventions are normally composed by the specialist.

2. Medical assistants are additionally in charge of gathering tests for lab testing. They draw blood when the specialist orders blood work. Medical assistants process tests. They pack and ship tests to their fitting goal.

Getting ready Patients

Getting ready patients is another obligation performed by a MA.

They prepare the patient for testing, treatment and methods that the specialist may perform. Medical assistants uncover any influenced regions by expelling swathes or garments. Whenever required, they shave any essential body parts.

Mama pursue their conventions, which will clarify in detail how and when to set up the patient. For instance, a MA will set up a male heart persistent for his EKG test by shaving zones in which the cathodes are put to guarantee they stick appropriately to the skin. They would dry any damp skin where anodes will be connected. The MA will apply the EKG cathodes, append the lead wires and start the test.

When the test is finished, the MA will print the gathered information, expel the leads and terminals from the patient and help the patient re-dress if help is essential.

Administrative Duties

Front office obligations for a MA incorporate administrative obligations, for example, recording and noting telephones and booking arrangements. They additionally welcome patients and acquire their own data, for example, address and protection data. A MA accumulates quiet graphs and documents them fittingly. They keep the workplace composed, enabling it to run all the more productively.

Persistent diagrams are continually changing with new data being included and old data expelled. A MA is in charge of guaranteeing persistent documents are finished and unblemished when each visit.They put relevant data like test outcomes, understanding history and pharmaceutical rundown at the front guaranteeing the doctor knows about the accessible data.

A medical assistant timetables patients for arrangements and erases scratch-offs from the date-book. Keeping a composed timetable is helpful on the grounds that it enables the staff to perceive how well time is overseen.

Medical Assistant Task List

While any association will build up its very own rundown of assignments and obligations that are incorporated into their medical assistants' set of working responsibilities, regular medical assistant occupations are incorporated on the rundown underneath:

Go about as a doctor's secretary

Direct oral and injectable prescriptions

Help patients with protection structures and claims

Help doctors and different suppliers with exams and methods

Call or fax remedies to drug stores

Change dressings

Clean and keep up instruments and medical hardware

Gather information about past wellbeing, medical and careful history from patients

Gather examples for lab tests

Report in paper or electronic medical records

Enter information from observing and following frameworks such and immunization and pharmaceutical coolers, disinfection gadgets and other quality or security information

Handle and course office mail

Oversee medical records

Oversee forte referrals

Measure patent fundamental signs (beat, circulatory strain, heartbeat and temperature), stature and weight

Request medical and office supplies and medicines

Perform charging assignments

Perform in-office lab tests

Perform specific testing, for example, EKGs, vision screening and hearing tests

Give persistent training as coordinated by the specialist or other supplier

Expel staples and lines

Timetable patient arrangements

Timetable medical procedures and symptomatic strategies, for example, CT outputs and MRIs

Stock exam rooms

Administer other medical assistants