The Legal Liability of Under-Treatment of Pain

http://www.eperc.mcw.edu/EPERC/FastFactsIndex/ff_063.htm

From the article:

It is well recognized that physician’s fear of  regulatory scrutiny (DEA, state medical boards), is a major contributor to the problem of under treatment of pain. A landmark lawsuit should be a wake-up call for all physicians that this type of practice poses its own legal liability. An 85-year-old California man with metastatic lung carcinoma spent the final week of his life in severe pain. Three years after his death his children sued his doctor alleging that that the physician had failed to prescribe drugs powerful enough to relieve their father’s suffering. This was one of the first U.S. cases in which a doctor has gone on trial for allegedly under-treating a patient’s pain. By a 9 to 3 vote the jury decided that the physician’s lack of attention to pain constituted elder abuse, awarding the family $1.5 million (the amount was reduced to $250,000).

To win, lawyers convinced the jury that under-treatment of pain was ‘reckless negligence.’

Could a Pharmacist not doing proper due diligence in “corresponding responsibility” result in “reckless negligence” ? Talk about your slippy slope  !!!

Filed under: General Problems