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Article: Chain of command: nurse blamed for neuro patient's death after Brainstem Herniation.
- Article from:
- Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
- Article date:
- August 1, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The twenty-four year-old patient, after several visits to the E.R. for headaches, was finally diagnosed with a left-sided occipital brain tumor. He was admitted to the hospital and scheduled for surgery.
At 1:05 a.m. the morning before surgery the patient's nurse observed his right pupil was fixed and dilated. The nurse immediately phoned the neurosurgeon who was scheduled for the surgery and reported what she had found.
The neurosurgeon ordered Dilaudid .5 mg for the patient's severe headache, one dose right away and another two hours later.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The neurosurgeon declined to do anything beyond ordering the Dilaudid. ...