On April 2, 2021, three friends, Dorian, Iliann and Talkesha were involved in a car accident in the state of Gloryland in the United States of America at around 11:00 p.m. Luckily, the accident was witnessed by several bystanders and so the friends were rushed to the nearest hospital, Try Mercy Hospital (TMH), within fifteen minutes. On arrival at TMH, the nurses immediately rushed Dorian to surgery as he was bleeding profusely and it appeared as though he had suffered severe head and neck trauma.

Iliann was also bleeding profusely. Her spinal cord appeared to have been severed. On assessing Iliann's injury, Dr. Busybee was of the view that TMH could not treat her and she would have to be transferred to another hospital. Although Dr. Busybee had the requisite expertise to conduct Iliann's surgery, he was the only surgeon available for the surgery and he was exhausted having just finished a thirty-hour shift. He advised a junior doctor, Dr. Wannabe, to stabilize Iliann and arrange for her to be transferred to another hospital, Helpful Hospital, which was one hour away.Dr. Busybee then went home to rest as his shift had ended. Dr. Wannabe had never dealt with a spinal injury before and there was no other senior doctor around to assist, so he tried his best to stop the bleeding. It took forty-five minutes for the ambulance to arrive to take Iliann to Helpful Hospital. Iliann died while being transferred.

Talkesha seemed to have fared the best of the three friends. There was no visible bleeding and she only seemed to have minor cuts and bruises. She was left in the emergency room while the staff focused on other patients. She sat and waited to be screened and examined. About three hours after being brought to the hospital, Talkesha started coughing up blood. It took another thirty minutes before she was seen by a doctor and examined, by then she had lost consciousness. Upon examination it was discovered that she had massive internal bleeding. She was rushed to surgery but died.

Dorian's surgery was successful. However, a few days following surgery, he became comatose after being provided an incorrect mixture of medication by Nurse Karen. While investigating the matter, it was discovered that Nurse Karen had no medical training or experience.

As a result of the foregoing, TMH currently faces several lawsuits brought by the families of the three friends. The hospital has come to you for advice as they know that you are pursuing a course on Legal Responsibility and Risk Management.

1. Advise Try Mercy Hospital -20 marks.

Marks will be allocated as follows:

1. Identification of key issues - 4 marks;
2. Identification of legal principles - 6 marks;
3. Analysis/Application of the legal principles to the facts and recommendation - 10 marks

1. Discuss what measures Try Mercy Hospital can put in place to avoid/reduce the reoccurrence of some of the issues identified in the fact scenario above.5 marks