Retained Surgical Sponge Legal Case Essay Example for Free

Retained Surgical Sponge Legal Case Essay In October, 2013 The Joint Commission (TJC) released a sentinel event alert pertaining to the prevention of retained surgical items. These retained items could have serious consequences for the patient. According to The Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert, 2013 Issue 51, incidents of retained objects reported to TJC totaled 772 from 2005 to 2012, sixteen resulting in death and 95 percent of these cases requiring additional treatment. Over the course of my seventeen year career as an operating room circulator, the fear of being involved in a case resulting in a retained surgical item was always on my mind. This fear sparked my interest in researching a legal case involving a retained surgical sponge ultimately resulting in the patient’s death. I will present the case, provide an analysis, and the outcome of the Estate of Genrich versus Ohio Insurance Company, 2008 WI 67. Case Summary In July 2003, a male patient underwent abdominal surgery for an ulcer. He developed an infection and on August 8, 2003 it was determined a surgical sponge was left in the abdomen. He was taken to the operating room in order to remove the retained sponge. After this surgical procedure, he did not recover from the complications of sepsis and the patient died on August 11, 2003. His wife filed a law suit on August 9, 2006 against the doctors and staff involved in the initial surgery (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). RETAINED SURGICAL SPONGE 3 Analysis In my opinion, given the facts of this case, the wife had legal grounds for a lawsuit. Hardwired systems are in place in the operating room to prevent the adverse event of a retained surgical sponge. The surgical count is a standard procedure in operating rooms. As stated by Steelman and Cullen (2011), retained sponges continue to be an issue throughout the country. In cases involving retained sponges, the nursing documentation reflected the count as being correct. In my experience, counting is a standard of care in the operating room. The operating room circulator counts with the surgical technician to ensure that all sponges are accounted for at the conclusion of the case. The surgeon relies on the staff in the room to identify surgical counts as correct or provide notification of incorrect counts. Based on this information and upon a initial review of this case, I had no doubt the wife would receive monetary compensation for her lawsuit. The incident of a retained surgical sponge is negligent, and according to Stiller, Thompson, and Ivy (2010), fail to uphold the standards of patient safety and quality, resulting in the liability of the health care professional. Outcome To my surprise, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ruled in favor of Ohio Insurance Company based on the fact that the state of Wisconsin has a three year statute of limitation. To make this judgement even more complex, the wife filed her lawsuit on August 9, 2006, two days under the three year anniversary of his death (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). However, the court concluded that his injury resulted from the retained sponge, was the start of the three year limitation. The initial surgery occurred on July 24, 2003. The court determined that the negligent act occurred during the initial surgery. The sponge that was left in the RETAINED SURGICAL SPONGE 4 abdomen caused the infection which ultimately resulted in the patient’s death (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). Conclusion In my opinion, the legal system failed in this case. One fact missing during the research of this case is the reason the wife waited three years to file a lawsuit. I found myself continuing to ask why the lawsuit was not filed immediately upon her husband’s death. Regardless of this fact, the wife suffered the loss of her husband due to the negligence of the physician and staff. Granted, when humans are involved, error is inevitable. One can hope that there will be understanding by the victims of the human error factor. However, the fact is the sponge should have been counted prior to incision and upon abdominal closure. A discrepancy should have been noted and it was not. The court concluded that the moment the sponge was left in the abdomen, the legal clock started ticking. In my opinion, a wrongful death lawsuit can only be filed when a death has occurred, not when the incidents leading to the death occur. If this had been the case, the wife would have met the statute of limitations and the judgement possibly would have been in her favor.

Legacies: Romans, Greeks, And Hebrews :: essays research papers

Legacies: Roman, Greeks, and Hebrews   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the ancient days, when culture, as well as civilizations were developing, many things came to be known as options for later cultures. Civilizations had different ways of doing things and therefore each of their cultures differed considerably. The Romans, the Greeks and the Hebrews all presented different legacies to the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Romans actually gave a legacy from their political, and economic systems. From the political system they gave us two forms of working government. There was the republic, which was made up of a senate, two assemblies, and consuls. They also had many forms of a dictatorship. The dictatorship was made of a dictator, who had complete control over the people, because the dictator usually controlled the army. From the Romans economic system, we gained their great knowledge of architecture. The Romans were great builders and put the arch to much use.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Greeks gave us one of the first forms of democracy, and a well developed navy. Athens, one of the most powerful city-states in Greece had a form of government called a direct-democracy, which is where the citizens directly interact with government affairs. The other legacy of the Greeks was their Navy. The navy was mostly utilized by Athens in their struggle against Sparta. It served as a useful way to fight and transport armies across seas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main legacy of the Hebrews was religion. They brought in the idea of monotheism which is still used today in religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The Hebrews governement was very much based on religion and the laws passed to them by God. The Ten Commandments were passed to the Hebrews by God, Legacies: Romans, Greeks, And Hebrews :: essays research papers Legacies: Roman, Greeks, and Hebrews   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the ancient days, when culture, as well as civilizations were developing, many things came to be known as options for later cultures. Civilizations had different ways of doing things and therefore each of their cultures differed considerably. The Romans, the Greeks and the Hebrews all presented different legacies to the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Romans actually gave a legacy from their political, and economic systems. From the political system they gave us two forms of working government. There was the republic, which was made up of a senate, two assemblies, and consuls. They also had many forms of a dictatorship. The dictatorship was made of a dictator, who had complete control over the people, because the dictator usually controlled the army. From the Romans economic system, we gained their great knowledge of architecture. The Romans were great builders and put the arch to much use.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Greeks gave us one of the first forms of democracy, and a well developed navy. Athens, one of the most powerful city-states in Greece had a form of government called a direct-democracy, which is where the citizens directly interact with government affairs. The other legacy of the Greeks was their Navy. The navy was mostly utilized by Athens in their struggle against Sparta. It served as a useful way to fight and transport armies across seas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main legacy of the Hebrews was religion. They brought in the idea of monotheism which is still used today in religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The Hebrews governement was very much based on religion and the laws passed to them by God. The Ten Commandments were passed to the Hebrews by God,

The street lamps dimly lit the rain-soaked streets – Creative Writing

The street lamps dimly lit the rain-soaked streets of the small town in which I live. Terraced houses line each side of the narrow streets and the sound of raindrops on tiled roofs constantly drum in my ears. The streets are totally empty, not even the odd car or person breaks the monotony of the black tarmac. A rusty iron fence surrounds the small park by the houses and the play area is deserted and broken. The sky is dark and overcast, with the occasional roll of thunder rumbling in the distance. By ten o'clock my shift at the local supermarket is over and I have to begin the long, mind-numbing walk home. The supermarket car park is covered in red, yellow and brown leaves from the old trees at the side of the road and I struggle across the slippery surface until I reach the dark subway that leads under the main road to the terraces. The subway walls are covered in graffiti while broken bottles and cigarette ends line the floor. I always feel slightly nervous when walking through this subway; its intimidating darkness makes me uneasy. Emerging from the subway I meet the usual dim glow of street lamps illuminating the small terraced houses that, to me, signified safety and protection. â€Å"Empty your pockets!† shouted a gruff voice, as a man jumped out from the side of the subway exit, â€Å"Give me your money or I'll kill you!† There stood a tall, well built man, dressed in dark, ragged clothes in an aggressive stance with his fist raised and his other hand in his pocket. He wore a hooded top concealing most of his face, except his black rotting teeth and his stubble covered chin. His shoes had holes and there were cuts and scars on his face. He shivered and shook while the rain soaked him through as he pinned me against the wall. â€Å"Please don't hurt me,† I begged. â€Å"I've done nothing wrong.† â€Å"I said empty your pockets!† repeated the man â€Å"What do you want from me?† I asked nervously. â€Å"If you don't give me your money, I'll†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he nodded his head towards his pocket, where my eyes met with the tip of a shining object that I presumed was a knife. â€Å"Ok, just please don't hurt me!† By now I was petrified, so I nervously put my hands in my pockets and scrambled around for and loose change and then pulled everything out and dropped it on the floor. The man immediately bent down to pick up the coppers and chocolate bar that fell to the floor. He counted the change rapidly and put the chocolate in his pocket. â€Å"What's in your jacket?† the man shouted. â€Å"N-n-n-nothing,† I stammered. â€Å"Don't lie!† he shouted, as his voice became more and more desperate. â€Å"Now take your jacket off and give it to me!† I didn't move. â€Å"Give it to me!† the man screamed at the top of his voice as he tore off my jacket and turned it upside-down to empty it. My wallet, keys and mobile phone fell out and as the man bent down to pick them up I spied my chance to make a run for it. I hesitated to think of my escape route but this proved to be a huge mistake. As I tried to run, the man got a hold of my trailing foot and dragged me to the ground, my feeble body could not escape the grasp of the man. He stared down at me and then kicked me in the stomach to stop me getting the same idea of trying to escape again. Lying in a puddle, I watched him gather the phone and wallet; leaving the keys and throwing away the wallet once he had taken the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 that was in there. â€Å"This doesn't look like nothing, does it?† he screamed with his face right next to mine, holding the crumpled note in front of my eyes. â€Å"Does it?† â€Å"N-n-no† I managed to say. â€Å"Get up!† he shouted angrily. I scrambled to my feet, still holding my stomach to try to suppress the pain of being kicked. â€Å"Yes?† I didn't actually want to know what he wanted. â€Å"I'll see you again later.† He said it with an evil smile and chilling abruptness, and then he turned away and walked, with a limp, towards the subway. As the dark figure merged with the darkness, the thought of how long ‘later' would be, and what he would do then, ran through my mind. During the confrontation, the rain had turned to hail without me realising, and the hail was stinging my cold, wet face. I was breathing heavily as I picked up my keys and torn coat, draping it over my head. I turned towards the street, still in a state of shock over what had happened and began to take nervous footsteps towards home. Soon the nervous footsteps turned to a sprint when I had come to terms with what had just happened. The street and houses turned to a blur and somehow I just kept running, all the way to the entrance of my street, where I had to stop and coordinate myself in order to find my house. I reached in the pocket of my jacket to retrieve my keys, and slowly found my way to number 56. The keys had a constant jingle, due to my hand's vigorous shivering, which also made it hard to get it in the lock and open the door. After a minute of nervous frustration the door opened, I jumped in and shut the door behind me.

Assessing The Implementation Of a Planned Preventative Maintenance Programme - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1373 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Housing Essay Type Critical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Assessing the implementation of a Planned Preventative Maintenance Programme for Strategic Estate Planning. In order to understand the implementation of a planned preventative maintenance programme for estate planning, one will first need to understand the practice of condition surveys and the meaning attached to the concept. The Audit Commission (1988), with regard to condition surveys have been critical of most local authority practice in the UK of estimating maintenance expenditure by simply taking a notional percentage of the property value, and urge the use of proper condition surveys to derive more accurate estimates of maintenance expenditure. Condition surveys should, however be commissioned for more than just budgeting purposes, as they have a wider application in the managing of building condition, Bargh (1987). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Assessing The Implementation Of a Planned Preventative Maintenance Programme" essay for you Create order A major obstacle to carrying out the first comprehensive survey is the expense. On a national scale the UK building stock possesses very poor condition records and this represents a massive impediment to developing good maintenance management practices. Some progress has been made in recent years, particularly with respect to local authority buildings, where the prompting of the Audit Commission has had some effect. Within the private sector in the UK, there is still a startling reluctance amongst property managers to commit funding and commission detailed condition surveys of their buildings, Sahai (1987). Within the public sector as well condition surveys now being carried out are strictly limited in their scope. In many cases they are carried out for very specific purposes, usually related to financial management, rather than as part of a professional approach to managing building condition, Colston (1987).Condition surveys also include, building surveys, manual surveys, optical mark surveys, bar-code reader, hand-held computer, and reports. These are all used to carry out condition surveys. With this in mind one can now talk about the use of this concept in a planned preventative maintenance programme for strategic estate planning. The process of planning for maintenance work has much in common with the planning of any construction activity. Therefore the basic principles of planning should be firmly understood before considering maintenance planning specifically. As the nature of the product or activity becomes more complex a point is reached where it becomes necessary to commit some, or all, of this plan to paper and a formal programme is produced, Sahai(1987). At a simple level this may only involve writing dates into a diary whilst, at a more advanced level, the use of a powerful computer based management technique may be necessary. Planning as an intellectual process permeates all activities in one form or another, always with some ob jective in mind, whether or not this is overtly stated. The clear identification of objectives is an essential prerequisite of the whole process, but particularly prior to the committal of a plan to the formal programming process. In the construction industry, planning has all too often been afforded insufficient credence. In many cases this is because not enough attention is given to the purposes for which a plan is required, leading to a failure to produce programmes that are consistent with the planning objectives, Tavistock Institute (1966). This tends either to bring the planning process into disrepute, or to the setting up of an intensely bureaucratic management regime. Now, there are a number of aspects of maintenance that require planning, which may not necessarily be part of a formal planned maintenance programme. For example, it may have been decided to institute a programme of planned inspections to verify that statutory requirements are being fulfilled, or co nsidered prudent to operate a planned replacement policy, as part of a preventive maintenance programme, Chanter and Swallow (2005). This may operate separately from an on-going planned maintenance programme. Within any maintenance organisation there will be planned and unplanned work. The balance between the two will vary, depending on the nature of the organisation and its attitude to building maintenance. A low level of planned maintenance in an organisation does not necessarily reflect a poor attitude, as it may be appropriate for the given situation. It is quite possible to envisage a scenario where the introduction of a sophisticated planned system is not justifiable. For example, the owner of an estate consisting of one relatively simple building may choose to carry out all maintenance on demand, and plan only relatively obvious items, such as a redecoration every four years. The latter mentioned may be carried out on an ad-hoc basis. This closely mirrors the appr oach of the owner/occupier of a dwelling house, and is an inevitable consequence of work which is characterised by a large number of relatively small, low level operations and a small number of larger ones, Gibson (1979). The latter are more likely to be foreseeable ones, and hence planned for. They are likely to fall into two categories, namely, . A regular on-going requirement to perform certain operations, such as decoration. These tasks will tend to be cyclical in nature and, in theory at least, quite conveniently form part of a rolling programme. . Major renewal or repair projects which, from time-to-time become necessary. For example, there may be a programme instituted by a housing association to replace all flat roof coverings over a fixed time period. Some of these larger exercises fall into the category of what may be termed preventive maintenance, and need to have been subjected to a rigorous decision making process, Lees and Wordsworth (2001). For example, a decision to replace flat roof coverings ahead of failure is a preventive measure. In reaching this decision, account would have been taken of the disruption and possible consequential damage of not replacing until failure had occurred. In addition to this the aims of planned maintenance programmes with regard to estate planning are extremely diverse and, hence, many types of programmes will be encountered. The applications of the basic principles of planning are of paramount importance to estate planning, Chanter and Swallow (2005). In particular, it is essential to define the objectives of maintenance plans very accurately at the outset, to ensure their relevance, and to enable them to be realistically formulated. These objectives may include all or a combination of the following: . To help ensure that major defects are rectified and that the building fabric is maintained to a defined acceptable, safe and legally correct, standard. . To sustain the building conditio n at an acceptable level and prevent undue deterioration of the building fabric and services by preventive means. . To preserve the utility of the estate as an asset, and maintain its value . To maintain the engineering and utility services in an optimum condition to safeguard the environmental conditions of the building, and hence its productive capacity. . By effective planning, to ensure that maintenance is conducted, over a number of years, in a sensible sequence which reflects a careful consideration of priorities. . By proper planning, to ensure that maintenance operations are carried out in the most effective way to ensure that best value for money is being obtained and the best use is being made of scare resources. . To provide a tool for financial management, in particular budgetary control, and to assist maintenance managers in bidding for financial resources. . As part of a broader facilities management scenario, to assist management to relate program med repairs and maintenance to other demands and alternatives, such as refurbishment, redevelopment or changes in leasing policy. The characteristics of maintenance work make accurate and comprehensive long-term predictions rather difficult. It is therefore necessary to define carefully what is realistically possible, and have an explicit recognition of levels of uncertainty. Because of this all programmes will need to have built into them some flexibility to permit modification if necessary and up-dating in order to ensure their continuing relevance. CONCLUSION It will be worthwhile to conclude that although the relevance of condition surveys to the implementation of planned preventative maintenance programmes for strategic estate planning enables an efficient allocation of scare resources such as funds and management expertise through periodic inspections of a property portfolio; its practice in scope within the UK is rather limited. Hence, authorities such as the audit commission should promote and ensure that condition surveys are carried out at the beginning of an estate management plan in which an adherence should be complied to, so that resources with regard to property portfolio are used efficiently, rather than wasted.