Health Law

please rewrite this essay 

 

 

 

In the case of the death due to hematoma, there is a relationship between the provider, the emergency room and the patient which is the which establishes the duty to care. The emergency room physician has a responsibility to evaluate the patient for possible injuries sustained in the automobile accident. This would include injuries from trauma- including head injuries. A full physical and neurological exam should be performed. Even if the patient did not display any of the symptoms for a subdural hematoma which could include headache, confusion drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, slurred speech or changes in vision (Subdural hematoma: Types, symptoms treatments, prevention, 2020), the fact that the test results showed that the 19-year-old needed blood should have alerted the medical staff that the patient may have an internal bleed of some sort.  

A CT would be able to identify the source of the bleed which could include a subdural hematoma very quickly. Even if a CT was performed and the hematoma was not visible, the medical staff had a duty to try and identify the source of the loss of blood. By not doing so, this can be considered a breach of duty.  

Death of the patient due to an untreated subdural hematoma would be considered an injury. An autopsy would be able to show that the cause of death was due to the untreated hematoma.  

Causation has to be foreseeable and there must be a departure from the standard of care (Pozgar, 2019). There are ways to treat a subdural hematoma that may have prevented the patients death. The standard of care for a subdural hematoma would be to monitor the pressure in the brain and treat the patient with surgery to drain the blood and relieve the pressure. (CDC, 2021).

Contributory negligence would not apply in this case. We dont know any of the details of the car accident that caused the injury which led to the death of the patient, but the patients death was due to the lack of treatment for the subdural hematoma and not the accident itself. Assumption of risk is also not applicable, in that the plaintiff did not refuse treatment or go against medical advice regarding a possible TBI or hematoma.

 

 

References

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, May 12). Get the facts about TBI. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html

Subdural hematoma: Types, symptoms treatments, prevention. Cleveland Clinic. (2020, May 4). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21183-subdural-hematoma

Pozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal aspects of Health Care Administration. Jones & Bartlett Learning.