Mr. Patrick Wallace was recently started on a blood pressure medication to treat his new diagnosis of hypertension (high blood p
ressure). He returns to see his doctor to make sure the new medication is working. The office has recently hired a new medical assistant named Meredith. Meredith is having a hard time with the procedure, and so she looks at Mr. Wallace’s past few blood pressure (BP) results and assumes that it is probably about the same (Meredith is unaware of the most recent medication that was prescribed for high blood pressure). The doctor comes into the exam room and reviews Mr. Wallace’s vital signs and medications. The doctor decides that, based on today’s results, the blood pressure medication dose is not effective, and increases the dose. About two days after starting the new dose of medication, Mr. Wallace gets out of bed in the morning and becomes very dizzy and passes out. His wife frantically calls 911 and Mr. Wallace is taken to the ER, and his blood pressure is dangerously low. His doctor sees him in the ER and determines that his medication strength is too high and lowers it to his previous dose. Now Mr. Wallace has an expensive ambulance bill, and an ER bill, and has pain in his hip from the fall. Write 1-2 paragraphs answering the following questions. Who in the situation has responsibility for what has happened? Does it fall solely on the Medical Assistant? What should Meredith have done when she was having a hard time obtaining the blood pressure? Do you think that the patient should have to pay the medical
I do not believe the responsibility of the predicament only falls on the medical assistant.If who ever was to train Meredith for the work didn't either give her enough time to understand what work she would be doing or they are not good at her how to work at the office. Meredith could have asked another assistant to help her understand the system more or could have went over how to work all the systems required. If Mr. Wallace was to tell the doctor that his dosage of medicine wasn't helping he possibly wouldn't have been in the situation. On that note, it was the doctors fault for not checking Mr. Wallace folder and the report from Mr. Wallace's other appointment.When Meredith had a hard time obtaining Mr. Wallace blood pressure she should have a doctor or another assistant get his blood pressure. I think that the doctor and Meredith should at least pay part of the bills. this is because not only did the doctor make a mistake the assistant made the mistake not getting Mrs. Wallace's blood pressure correctly or asking any of the other workers to help her. So I think that Mrs. Wallace, the doctor, and Meredith should all pay parts of the bills because it is all partially their faults.
