A medical-surgical nurse with 15 years of experience has an excellent reputation for providing safe patient care and building rapport with patients and their families. Late one evening, an emergency department (ED) nurse calls with handoff report for an admission to the medical-surgical unit. During report, the nurse learns that while in the ED for the past 14 hours, the patient has been uncooperative, difficult to manage, and lashing out at staff and other patients. The patient was in a motor vehicle accident and tested positive for both alcohol and drugs. Upon arrival to the ED, the examination of the patient revealed two broken ribs, bruising on his chest, and multiple facial lacerations. The ED nurse states that the patient is currently stable and must be moved immediately because they are expecting multiple patients with critical injuries to arrive in the ED shortly. Currently, the medical-surgical unit is short-staffed because a nurse called out sick and could not be replaced. The patient arrives on the medical-surgical unit and is quiet and withdrawn. His initial vital signs include a pulse rate of 110 and blood pressure of 90/50. These assessment findings concern the nurse, who makes a note to recheck the patient’s vitals after assessing the nurse’s other patients. Within an hour of admission and before the nurse has an opportunity to reassess the patient, the patient experiences a cardiac arrest and dies. Three weeks after the incident, the medical-surgical nurse is informed that a lawsuit has been filed and the nurse has been named as a defendant.

1.

Will the nurse be arrested and have to go to jail?

2.

Should the nurse call the patient’s family and apologize?

3.

Is the nurse’s license to practice in jeopardy of being lost?

4.

Should the nurse hire a lawyer?