In 200 words or more, addresses the following.

In chapter 5,  

Title: The Law of Healthcare Administration 

Edition: 8th (2017) 

Author: Showalter 

Publisher: Health Administration Press

Book ISBN: 978-1567938760  

discusses “loss of a chance.” Read this section and discuss whether a practitioner who negligently fails to make an early diagnosis is liable, even though the likelihood is that the doctor could not ultimately prevent the death of the patient. In addition, focus on the reasoning of the court that disallowing such cases to go before a jury could lead to a blanket release of liability for physicians in such cases. Do you agree? As a health administrator is this the type of policy that would benefit the facility? If so, how would it benefit the facility? Lastly, consider yourself the patient in such a scenario. How would such rules impact patient care?

In two different paragraph with no less than 100 words give your personal opinion to  Kevin Dentinger and  Brenda Newcomb

 Brenda Newcomb  

In the section of loss of chance, it points out that sometimes, depending on the disease that patients have, that they have no chance of surviving on long-terms. The section also points out that if an early diagnosis is made, it may prolong the patient’s life or permit a slim

survival chance. In agreeing with some jurisdictions that the practitioner should not be liable if the patients were more likely to die anyway. For reasons of agreement, it points out that sometimes but not patients have any chance of surviving long term. Other reasons for agreement stems from early diagnosis that it may prolong but not that it will prolong patients’ lives and it may give patients a slim survival chance but not a great survival chance (Showalter, 2017).

In agreement with the blanket release of liability for hospitals and doctors, that less than 50 percent of patients surviving chance, sounds like the right thing to do, since the delayed diagnosis may have reduced chances of surviving by five years at 14 percent but not will reduce the chance. As a health administrator, this would not be a type of policy that would benefit my facility, because it is not a 100 percent guarantee policy. Such rules can impact patient care by lesser patients for the fact that many patients may not want their lives prolonged (Showalter, 2017).

Showalter, J. S. (2017). The law of healthcare administration. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

 Kevin Dentinger 

Loss of Chance discusses if a physician is liable for failing to diagnosis a condition early enough; so as not to give the patient a chance to start treatment sooner.  Loss of chance, to me, is very conditional and is best approached in the least emotional way possible. Every physician takes a hippocratic oath to do no harm, and to the best of their ability, help their patients. Therefore, physicians should be held responsible for upholding their oath, conversely certain disease is significantly more difficult to diagnosis, especially in the early stages. Whatsmore, there is also an issue of quality of life for a patient; if a treatment can create a higher quality of life for a patient, there is a precedent that the physician should exercise that treatment even if it would not ultimately prevent death.  If a physician knowingly did not diagnosis a condition early on, for whatever reason, that practitioner should be held accountable for their actions even if the patient was ultimately going to die, let alone if a chance of survival was slim. In my opinion, If a condition was barely detectable and was simply missed, although not ideal, that is more understandable and should be taken into consideration while determining fault.  

In the case of court rulings disallowing these cases to go before a jury, I do not believe this creates a blanket release of liability for physicians. As mentioned above, loss of chance, I believe, is conditional based on the disease diagnosed, one size does not fit all. Physicians work with the symptoms they are presented with and form judgements based on those. There are general symptoms that can draw a number of different conclusions, and it is simply not feasible to treat every symptom as the most severe indicator. As a health administrator a blanket release of liability would not be beneficial for a facility because there would be a lack of accountability, which causes systems to collapse. Furthermore, being overly cautious and running every diagnostic test for every single symptom, that all patients have is not feasible. Patient care ought to be the best it can possibly be, if a diagnosis is missed by a physician that ultimately would not make a difference, as long as there is no suffering by the patient I do not see an issue.  As a patient the most important thing to me, would be to have all treatments possible even if they only presented a slim chance of survival, to that effect if a physician failed to make a diagnosis of an incredibly rare disease on me, I would not hold it against them. However, if it was more common and was missed then I may seek liability especially if it meant an easier or more effective treatment earlier.  Lastly, if there is no diagnosis and I feel something is wrong, in my opinion, it is up to the patient to seek a second opinion for me that would be true as well.  If there was a blanket release of liability for physicians as I mentioned earlier, would ultimately ruin the system of the facility. Accountability is necessary for a hospital or other healthcare institution to be successful, and success of these facilities depends on the quality of treatment presented to their patients. 

References:

Showalter, J. S. (2017). The law of healthcare administration. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Cannon, B. D., PhD. (2019). Hippocratic oath. Magill’s Medical Guide (Online Edition). Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89093438&site=eds-live

Bagwell, D. K. (2019). Quality of life. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=93872189&site=eds-live