Gwen's Non-compliance and its Impact on Medical Records
Gwen, a 52-year-old Caucasian woman, looks to be in good health except for some health issues that need to be addressed but she is refusing to comply. She is on medication, but she resists blood work and vaccines. She also requires a mammogram and a pap smear for documentation. This demonstrates that her non-compliance attitude has an impact on the quality of medical records (Stelmach, 2015).
Legal Implications: Breach of Duty
A breach of duty is one legal implication for the level of care in Gwen's situation. According to Moffett and Moore (2011), this can occur in nursing practice when patient care falls below the required standards. From the case study, the key component of a malpractice policy is that of duty. It is the responsibility of a healthcare provider to provide some type of care, including information about the patient (Moffett & Moore, 2011). However, since Gwen is dismissing some of the care she needs, it is the duty of nurses and doctors to tell her of their importance. At the same time, if she continues being difficult and refuses some of the medical procedures being recommended to her, the doctor can easily dismiss her to relieve the risk of malpractice on their side.
Dismissing a Difficult Patient as an Act of Minimizing Malpractice
Indest (2012) explains that dismissing a patient who is being difficult is allowed by law so as to minimize any act of malpractice that could occur. As such, this is the law followed by majority States and this includes Mississippi. In this state, the medical practitioner has to document the reasons for dismissing the patient and make the latter understood why that action is being taken. Once a patient has been dismissed for non-compliance, the doctor cannot take them back. Dismissing a patient is usually the last choice for medical providers but it can be effective for avoiding malpractice (Miller, 2013).
References
Indest, G. (2012). Patient Abandonment. Retrieved from http://www.thehealthlawfirm.com/resources/health-law-articles-and-documents/Patient-Abandonment.html
Miller, K. P. (2013). The National Practitioner Data Bank: An Annual Update. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, (9)9, 576-580.
Moffett, P. & Moore, G. (2011). "The Standard of Care: Legal History and Definitions: the Bad and Good News." West J Emerg Med 12(1): 109-112. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088386/
Stelmach, E. I. (2015). Dismissal of the Noncompliant Patient: Is this What We Have Come to? The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 11(7), 723-725.
