Administering medication to patients should be done carefully and must be in the specifications of the physician’s order. Improper administration of medication can cause harm to patients. The accusation of such negligence is common in nursing care. You just need a nurse attorney before dealing with such cases.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an RN at a medical facility in Abilene, Texas, and had been in that position for two (2) years and seven (7) months.
On or about January 22, 2021, while employed as an RN at a medical facility in Abilene, Texas, the RN entered a verbal order to discontinue 2 mg Dilaudid by mouth (PO) and change to 2 mg Dilaudid intravenously (IV) for a patient, without questioning or clarifying the high dosage with the physician. The dose was in excess of the normal IV dose for an elderly patient with reduced kidney function. Subsequently, the RN administered the medication to the patient, who then became bradycardic and coded approximately six minutes later, and ultimately expired on January 25, 2021, from cardiac arrest/post-code blue complications. RN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient from adverse effects due to possible overdose of narcotic medication, including respiratory depression, bradycardia, apnea, and cardiac arrest.
In response, the RN stated that the patient’s primary care team had discontinued pain medications ordered by the surgeon. She asked the resident about it and was told that they discontinued and switched the medications based on the patient’s kidney function. She opened the chart and showed the resident the order which reflected Dilaudid 2 mg PO, and the resident clarified by removing his mask to make sure she could understand him and said that was incorrect, he wanted the medication IV. She asked the resident if he wanted the medication IV instead of PO and the same milligrams which he confirmed yes; he did want her to change the order. RN then entered the verbal order into the computer. The patient reported pain, so she checked the patient’s vital signs and administered the IV Dilaudid over 2 minutesThe patient reported relief from her pain, so the RN went to check on her other patients. Not long after that, the RN stated that she was called by the emergency telemetry line and was told that the patient’s heart rate was dropping critically low. She ran to the room and found the patient unresponsive, with no pulse; staff arrived with the crash cart and the RN administered Narcan. They obtained a return of circulation and transferred the patient to the intensive care unit.
However, without enough evidence to prove she was not guilty, the RN lost the case. This is the reason why the Texas Board of Nursing placed her RN license under disciplinary action.
Seek guidance from a Texas Nurse Lawyer to safeguard your livelihood!
The moment you see yourself facing allegations of malpractice, overwhelming feelings of anxiousness sweep through you which would then cloud your mind, making it difficult to rationally think of a solution. This is the reason why we need to get acquainted with people who are legally knowledgeable and skilled to help us figure things out, a Nurse Attorney is the one you need.
Get acquainted with one of the experts in this field, Nurse Attorney Yong J. An. He’s been in this field of work for almost two decades, assisting in several hundreds of Licensing cases. Worry no more, Call Atty. An at this hotline (832) 428-5679 any time, any day.