Page 36 - APP Collaboration - Assessing the Risk (Part One)

SVMIC Advanced Practice Provider Collaboration: Assessing the Risk

Let’s take a look at a Tennessee case that illustrates many of

the areas of potential liability reviewed in this course, including
a breakdown in communication and in the fulfillment of the

physician’s duty to carefully supervise APPs with whom he/she
has a legal relationship.

C A S E S T U DY

Catherine Connor was 27 years old when she died from
25
acute drug intoxication caused by prescription drugs.
She was recovering from a surgical procedure when she
developed an infection. Travis White, M.D., was working

with a group of internists and was Ms. Connor’s primary

care physician at that time. In early February, Ms. Connor
went to see Dr. White at his office for the treatment of pain
she was suffering as a result of the infection. Dr. White’s

physician assistant, Mary Martin, saw Ms. Connor when

she came in and gave her a three-week prescription
for Demerol, to be taken four times a day, along with
Stadol. PA Martin did not schedule a follow-up visit.

After about two weeks, Ms. Connor called Dr. White’s

office complaining of nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.
Ms. Connor was directed to go to the emergency room
if she felt dehydrated, but Ms. Connor did not go to the

emergency room at that time. Ms. Connor suffered a

seizure and cardiac and/or respiratory arrest and died
later that day. The following day, an autopsy revealed that
she died from “acute combined drug intoxication” as a

result of the prescription drugs she was taking.

25 Watkins v. Affiliated Internists, 2012 WL 4086139 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012).

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