Does educating patients increase hospital liability?
Does educating patients increase hospital liability?
The empowered patient in a litigious age
With a growing knowledge about the risk of infections and patient safety hazards such as medication errors, patients are becoming health care's new partners in prevention. Driven by consumer advocacy groups and the patient safety movement, the age of the empowered patient is at hand.
For example, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has a new web site designed as an educational resource for consumers and health care professionals: www.preventinfection.org.
APIC bills the web site as a one-stop, educational source that provides information on infectious diseases and prevention measures from leading experts in the field.
That development follows publication this year of the book You: The Smart Patient, which calls for consumers to become informed about infections and other risks they face in hospitals. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is listed as a co-authoring agency on the book, which urges — among other things — that patients demand that health care workers wash their hands.1
Given this trend, we asked a former ICP and current attorney whether this well-intentioned activity could potentially raise the liability flag for hospitals. Are informed, involved patients more likely to sue?
"There is that added awareness of the risk, which could lead to some additional litigation by the mere fact that there is an increased [knowledge]," says Julie Savoy, BSN, RN, JD, an attorney at Gachassin Law Firm in Lafayette, LA. "But the trade-off is very beneficial in that if it gets more people to wash their hands that's a good thing. The more the consumer knows, the better partner they are going to be in their own health care and the better advocate they are going to be for themselves and the better outcomes they will have."
That means, ultimately, fewer lawsuits against her clients, which include hospitals and other health care providers.
"Having been a practicing ICP, I know we need all the help we can get," she says. "If I have a patient in a bed who is cognizant enough to remind the staff (to wash hands) it can't be a bad thing. It all comes back to good patient care. If I can get my clients to give good patient care then there are going to be fewer adverse outcomes that may result in claims. It's not about defending bad care; it's about promoting good care — even from this side of the fence."