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Showing results for tags 'Legal issue'.
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News Article
NHS use of puberty blockers legal challenge begins
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Legal action is being launched against the NHS over the prescribing of drugs to delay puberty. Papers have been lodged at the High Court by a mother and a nurse against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs the UK's only gender-identity development service (Gids). Lawyers will argue it is illegal to prescribe the drugs, as children cannot give informed consent to the treatment. The Tavistock said it had a "cautious and considered" approach to treatment. The nurse, Sue Evans, left the Gids more than a decade ago after becoming increasingly concerned teenagers who wanted to transition to a different gender were being given the puberty blockers without adequate assessments and psychological work. Ms Evans said: "I used to feel concerned it was being given to 16-year-olds. But now, the age limit has been lowered and children as young as perhaps 9 or 10 are being asked to give informed consent to a completely experimental treatment for which the long-term consequences are not known." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 January 2020- Posted
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News Article
Anger over UK's failure to ban breast implants linked to 61 cancer cases
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
At least 61 women in the UK have been diagnosed with a potentially fatal cancer linked to breast implants, but the type they received continues to be used, with no plans by the regulator to follow France and Australia in banning them. Lawyers for more than 40 of the women, who are bringing legal action against the manufacturers as well as the clinics and doctors who carried out the surgery, say the textured implants linked to anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) should be withdrawn from the market. Smooth implants are available instead, which have no proven connection to the cancer of the white blood cells. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says the disease is very rare, but Sarah Moore, a solicitor at Leigh Day law firm, believes there are more cases than the regulator is aware of. “I think there has been misdiagnosis and under-diagnosis, and I think we have to bear in mind that in the last 18 months there have been 17 more reported cases of ALCL,” she said. The leading manufacturer of textured implants, Allergan, has withdrawn them from worldwide sale. In December 2018 its European kitemark for the implants expired – the French agency that had granted certification had asked for extra safety data that the company said it could not provide in time. They have not been on sale in Europe since then. The US authorities asked the company to recall its textured implants in July 2019 and Allergan took them off the market. France and Australia have since banned the sales of all textured implants, although neither has suggested that women should actively seek to have them removed. In the UK, other brands of textured implants are still in use. Neither NHS England, the NHS Business Services Authority nor the MHRA could say how many had been given to women in the NHS after a mastectomy for breast cancer. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 January 2020- Posted
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Content ArticleIn a wide-ranging Report on NHS litigation reform, the Health and Social Care Committee finds the current system for compensating injured patients in England ‘not fit for purpose’ and urges a radically different system to be adopted. Reforms would introduce an administrative scheme which would establish entitlement to compensation on the basis that correct procedures were not followed and the system failed to perform rather than clinical negligence which relies on proving individual fault. The new system would prioritise learning from mistakes and would reduce costs. Currently, litigation offers the only route by which those harmed can access compensation. MPs say in addition to being grossly expensive and adversarial, the existing system encourages individual blame instead of collective learning. This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
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Content ArticleKeren Levy was fit and healthy when she first felt pain in a molar. After numerous dentists and doctors left it untreated, there were knock-on effects throughout her body. Today she is in constant pain and look almost unrecognisable She went to the dentist a number of times but X-rays showed nothing untoward. However, Karen started to develop a horribly rotting taste and knew the tooth was necrotic. She begged her dentist to give her root canal treatment or extract it, but without a visible sign this was needed she was refused. Instead she was referred to her GP, implying her distress was bereavement due to her mother recently dying. Many months later, Keren was referred to a different dentist who gave her a 3D scan that showed the original tooth to be necrotic, as she had said five months before. Evidence of the infection was clear in the surrounding bone. Her dentist records that the delay in treating the original dental infection appears to have triggered a systemic response in my body’s autonomic or endocrine system. Having had perfect health, eventually I had to have 12 root canals; all those teeth were necrotic. Confronted by the facts, the first dentist Keren saw said that, had he been in his Athens surgery, he would have carried out a root canal on the original tooth. But here, in the UK, he had been concerned he could be held to account by General Dental Council (GDC) regulations, given the X-ray image had not been “definitive”. An editorial in the British Dental Journal (BDJ) as long ago as 2014 described a climate of “fear and distrust” that had led to defensive dentistry because of the prospect of legal action or disciplinary procedures if anything goes wrong. Karen's case is a horrific example of excessive diagnostic testing delay, instead of treatment. Months of referrals to neurologists, maxillo-facial specialists, psychologists, GPs, oral medicine departments and other dentists went against common sense and ensured responsibility could never be laid at a particular dentist’s door. Invariably, the first question was: “What did the last dentist say?”
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Content ArticleDr Robert D. Glatter, medical advisor for Medscape Emergency Medicine, Dr Megan Ranney, professor of emergency medicine and the academic dean at Brown University School of Public Health and Dr Jane Barnsteiner, emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, discuss the tragic case involving RaDonda Vaught, who was an ICU nurse who was recently convicted in Tennessee of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect following a medical error due to administration of the wrong medication that led to a patient's death.
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Content ArticleIn 2015 the Supreme Court judgement in the case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board created a significant change to the law in regard to gaining informed, or valid, consent. The case concerned Nadine Montgomery, a pregnant lady of small stature with diabetes who delivered her son vaginally in 2001. Her son experienced a hypoxic insult as a result of shoulder dystocia and consequently suffered cerebral palsy with severe disabilities. She successfully argued that had she been informed of the risk of shoulder dystocia she would have opted to have an elective caesarean section. This is part of NHS Education for Scotland's Advanced Practice Toolkit repository for credible and supportive resources.
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Content ArticleIn this article, the first in a series of two on pelvic mesh and its medicolegal challenges, Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez, Consultant in Pain Medicine and expert witness, explores the uses of pelvic mesh and the complications that can arise. The second in the series focuses on the physical and psychological effects pelvic mesh implants can have on claimants.
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- Womens health
- Medical device
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Content ArticleAre Employment Tribunals the right institution to handle whistleblowing cases? This report aims to open the debate by examining the evidence. A research team from the University of Greenwich analysed Employment Tribunal judgements in England and Wales, for cases that included a Public Interest Disclosure claim, between 2015 and 2018. A total of 603 cases were included in the analysis. Included in the study were only those cases that went to at least preliminary hearing. Cases that were withdrawn before preliminary hearing were discounted.
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Content ArticleIn this video, Dr Zubin Damania discusses the recent criminal conviction of US nurse RaDonda Vaught for a medical error and why this is terrible for patient safety, moral and the future of nursing and medicine.
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Content ArticleNHS Resolution has published a set of three reports which explore clinical issues that contribute to compensation claims within Emergency Departments.
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Content ArticleRaDonda Leanne Vaught faced criminal charges over a fatal medication error she made in 2017. Her trial has raised important questions over medical errors, reporting and process improvement, as well as who bears responsibility for widespread use of tech overrides in hospitals. There is debate over whether automated dispensing cabinet overrides are a reckless act or institutionalised as ordinary given the widespread use of IT workarounds among healthcare professionals. The Nashville District Attorney's Office described this override as a reckless act and a foundation for Ms. Vaught's reckless homicide charge, while some experts have said cabinet overrides are used daily at many hospitals.
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Content ArticleTwo professionals who treated Jack Adcock before his death were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter, receiving 24-month suspended sentences. His nurse, Isabel Amaro, was erased from the nursing register; but after reviews in the High Court and Court of Appeal, his doctor, Hadiza Bawa-Garba, was merely suspended. Nathan Hodson explores the proposition that nurses are at greater risk of erasure than doctors after gross negligence manslaughter through a close reading of the guidance for medical and nursing tribunals informed by analysis from the High Court and Court of Appeal in the Bawa-Garba cases.
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Content ArticleThe concept of woman-centred care is at the core of midwifery care and midwives have a key role as advocates and facilitators of women’s choices. This briefing from the Royal College of Midwives provides guiding principles and support for midwives in facilitating personalised care and women’s choices, including when those fall outside clinical recommendations.
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Content ArticleThis study in the Journal of Patient Safety aimed to describe the contributing factors in diagnosis-related and failure-to-monitor malpractice claims in which nurses are named the primary responsible party. It also aimed to identify actions healthcare leaders can take to enhance the role of nurses in diagnosis. The authors found that as nurses are held legally accountable for their role in diagnosis, leaders need to raise awareness across the system of the roles and responsibilities of nurses in this area. They also need to focus on enhancing nurses' diagnostic skills and knowledge.
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Content ArticleThis Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry will look at human rights concerns in care settings in England, highlighting areas in which the human rights of patients, older people and others living with long-term disabilities, including learning disabilities and autism, are currently undermined or at risk.
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NHS Resolution report - Extravasation (30 November 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Extravasation
Extravasation is the accidental leakage of any liquid from a vein into the surrounding tissues, which can cause serious harm to the patient. This report analyses the 467 claims relating to extravasation injuries received by NHS Resolution between 1 April 2010 and 1 December 2021. It includes information about specific injuries caused by extravasation, factors that led to injuries and specialities in which most injuries occurred.- Posted
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Content ArticleAll health and care professionals have an ethical responsibility to be open and honest with service users and their employers when things go wrong with a person’s care. This is otherwise known as the professional duty of candour. Learn more about the Duty of Candour on the Health and Care Professions Council website.
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Content ArticleEmployers have a duty of care to support doctors when they are faced with an abusive patient or their guardians/relatives. This guidance from the British Medical Association (BMA) gives background information and steps that all employers and healthcare workers should take when discrimination against a healthcare worker occurs.
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Content ArticleA letter to the Chair of the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee expressing concern that written evidence provided to the Committee's “Coronavirus: Lessons Learned to Date" inquiry was not properly considered and opportunities to protect healthcare workers from disease were missed.
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- PPE (personal Protective Equipment)
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Content ArticleEvidence submitted outlining the issues relating to the protection of health and care workers. It explains how surgical masks are not 'protective' against airborne disease and represent a breach of COSHH Regulations.
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- PPE (personal Protective Equipment)
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Open Letter to the Chief Executive, Health and Safety Executive
SafeDavid3 posted an article in Regulatory issues
Letter outlining potential legal non-compliance by persons involved in issuing Infection Prevention and Control Guidance.- Posted
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Content ArticleIn this blog Patient Safety Learning provides an overview of the key points included in its response to the call for evidence for the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry examining the case for reform of NHS litigation.
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Ineffective medical device recalls are a patient safety scandal
Kath Sansom posted an article in Women's health
A medical device is any piece of equipment, material or apparatus used to diagnose or treat a medical condition. When a medical device is recalled because of safety concerns, it can affect a large number of patients, often on a global scale. However, manufacturers and regulators of these devices don’t often have effective ways to ensure patients know about safety concerns, understand the risks or know what to do if their medical device is recalled. This blog by Kath Samson, founder of the Sling the Mesh campaign, looks at some of the issues around medical device recalls. She suggests ways that device manufacturers and regulators can improve their communication with patients and healthcare staff when a medical device is recalled.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis summary, published by the Health and Safety Executive, outlines the legal necessity of reporting and recording incidents in the workplace. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) require employers to report to the relevant enforcing authority and keep records of work-related deaths, accidents and injuries.
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Content ArticleThe Medicines and Medical Devices Bill has received royal assent and has become law. The new Act will enable the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to implement a number of policies to amend the existing regulatory frameworks, although generally regulations under the Act must first be introduced. The potential changes include: Supporting the availability of medicines: enabling hub and spoke arrangements between different legal entities, to ‘support wider use of automation to bring increased efficiencies’; requiring manufacturers to provide electronic patient information leaflets; and increasing the professions able to prescribe and supply certain medicines. Protecting the public: developing a UK medicines verification system; introducing a national registration scheme for online sellers of medicines; and facilitating supply of medicines and medical devices during non-pandemic public health emergencies.
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