Question

1. A patient was given the wrong medication. No adverse effects occurred. Which of the four Ds is missing? Why does this affect the possibility of a lawsuit?
ANS:

Answer 1

Right drug is missing.
From my readings, all medication errors have to be reported not only to the healthcare facility but also disclosed to the patient. Should something adverse happen to the patient then the patient would be justified to file a lawsuit against the healthcare facility as well as the individual administering the medication.

Answer 2

Answer:

Among the 4D's of medical negligence, the direct causation and damages are missing. Hence, the possibility of a law suit is weak.

Explanation:

The 4D's of medical malpractice or negligence are duty, dereliction, direct causation and damages.

The duty of doctor is to meet the expectations of competences and follow the rules of patient confidentiality. The dereliction of duty is not meeting competence standards or violating the trust of patient. The direct causation refer to any damage to patient as a result of dereliction of duty. For example if the patient's gall bladder is removed during surgery without informing the patient prior, or giving them the wrong medication causing adverse effects. the final D is damages that has to be paid to the patient for physical and emotional harm when a medical lawsuit is filed.

In the present scenario, dereliction of duty i.e. giving wrong medication does not cause any adverse effect to the patient and no direct causation occurred. However, the patient still could file a law suit because the condition is still not managed. Since, no direct causation occurred so the court might not give them any damages.