Page 16 - 2021 Risk Reduction Series - Communication Part Two

SVMIC Risk Reduction Series: Communication

heartbeat. The defense was severely hampered when the

patient’s surgeon later accused the anesthesiologist of failing to
monitor the patient’s blood-oxygen levels for 15 to 20 minutes

while surfing the web on his phone. For this reason, many
hospitals, clinics, and practices have restricted social media and

internet access during work hours.

The following case example presents another situation where
a patient’s family was able to establish that staff members

accessing social media resulted in delayed treatment leading to
an adverse outcome.

C A S E S T U DY

An elderly patient who had a fever of 104.6F went to the

ER with her husband and a neighbor. After triage, the
patient was placed in a room, but the physician did not
see her right away. After several hours, the neighbor went

to the nursing station where there were six staff members

using their cell phones. One staff member told the
neighbor, “We’re talking to doctors about patients”, but
the neighbor went back and told the patient and her

husband that the staff members were checking Facebook

on their phones. Several hours after that, the patient’s
husband went to the nursing station where he saw a
nurse reading a book on an electronic tablet. A physician

finally admitted the patient 14 hours after she arrived. The

patient waited another four hours for a nurse to administer
the antibiotic ordered by the physician. The patient later
died of complications from sepsis. The husband sued for

medical malpractice, incensed that the staff had ignored

his wife. During a deposition, the neighbor testified about
her conversation with the ER nurses. Based on this

Page 16