discussion response

In this week’s scenario, there was a patient, Mrs. Smith, who had gone into Bright Road Health System to have a procedure done. When her procedure was completed, she was placed in a post operation recovery room with a few other patients who had also had a procedure done that day. As doctor Paltrow, the chief surgeon and operating surgeon, and some residents were doing post-op wound checks on Mrs. Smith and the others, they failed to change gloves and wash their hands in between each patient. As a result of this, every patient in that room ended up testing positive for a staph infection because of the fact that the first patient Dr. Paltrow and the residents checked had tested positive for staph at the site of his leg amputation, confirmed by the pulmonologist that saw Mrs. Smith. The leg amputation was checked first with Mrs. Smith being checked last with no glove change or hand washing in between resulting in Mrs. Smith’s staph infection. The post-surgical nurse, Jennifer Brainard, failed to immediately inform Dr. Paltrow of Mrs. Smith testing positive for the staph infection resulting in her treatment for it being delayed. In fact, the patients husband actually had to go all the way to the CEO of the facility for anything to really be done for Mrs. Smith as she claims that she was treated in the facility for the staph, but shortly after, she had contracted an auto immune disease as a result of complications. Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria and for some people a staph infection can be harmless, but for others, it can spread easily and cause some serious illnesses for the patient, and it could even be fatal for some (mayoclinic.org., 2025).

Staph infections have the potential to be fatal for a patient if the bacteria get into the bloodstream, joints, bones, lungs or heart (mayoclinic.org., 2025). This led to Mrs. Smith filing a lawsuit against Bright Road for negligence. In order to establish the hospital's liability in this case, it must be determined whether a duty to care was established, if the duty to care was breached, whether there was an injury and if the cause of the injury was due to negligence, whether the concept of Respondeat Superior applies in the case, and whether or not to file an indemnification against any of the staff members that were involved. After conducting interviews with everyone involved in her case, it is determined that things definitely went wrong that day due to careless acts of the staff. My recommendation to the General Counsel of Bright Road is: First, was duty to care established at the time of injury? Yes, it was established through care giver – patient with the medical staff. Duty to care is defined as a legal obligation of care, performance, or observance imposed on one to safeguard the rights of others and arise from the relationship between a patient and this case, their provider through the element of a care giver-patient relationship (Pozgar, 2023). This duty to care was breached when the doctor and the residents neglected to wash their hands and change gloves in between each patient and their wound checks. Jennifer, the nurse, argues that although the facility has policies for hand hygiene, they are not always strictly enforced.

She also breached duty to care by not immediately informing Dr. Paltrow of the situation. That is when the patients husband comes into play with having to contact the CEO. The nurse herself even stated in her interview that Mrs. Smith was lucky that she did not die from it and the delay of treatment as staph spreads through the body quickly and treatment must be started as soon as possible. It is clear that the injury upon Mrs. Smith was factually caused by the negligence of the staff. Had proper polices been followed, it is less likely that the other patients would have contracted staff. Next, it can be challenged that Mrs. Smith’s autoimmune disease could have been a result of something other than complications from the infection. However, Bennett (2022), notes that bacteria can trigger the immune system in such a way that autoimmune diseases are formed and conditions such as reactive arthritis and Crohn’s disease have been associated with bacterial triggers (Bennett, 2022). According to Bennett (2022), a study found that staphylococcus aureus was found to stimulate systemic lupus symptoms, and it normally does not cause infections in people unless it gets into wounded skin or sensitive areas, or if someone is immunocompromised. Does Respondeat Superior apply in this case? Respondeat Superior translates to "let the master respond" and means that the employer is responsible for the legal consequences of the acts of the servant or employee who is acting within the scope of their employment (Pozagr, 2023). The facility could be held liable for negligence under Respondeat Superior since Dr. Paltrow and Jennifer, RN, are both employees. Mrs. Smith could file an indemnification in this case as well as the hospital had policies in place but failed to properly enforce them on top of Dr. Paltrow along with the residents neglecting to change gloves between patients resulted in Mrs. Smith being infected with staph. 2 Corinthians 8:21 says, "For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man." (NIV). Across the board, the facility and the staff neglected honesty and integrity in the case of Mrs. Smith. Not only did they do wrong by her and other patients, the did wrong by the Lord.

References

DEI Creative in Seattle, W., & Bennett, Dr. J. (2022, November 9). Bacterial triggers for autoimmune diseases. Aria Integrative Medicine. https://www.ariaintegrative.com/2022/11/08/bacteri...

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2025, September 6). Staph infections. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sta...

Pozgar, G. D. (2023). Legal aspects of health care administration (14th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. ISBN: 9781284280616

Zondervan NIV Study Bible (K. L. Barker, Ed.; Full rev. ed.). (2002). Zondervan.