Administering medication to patients should be done carefully and must be in the specifications of the physician’s order. Improper administration of medication can cause harm to patients. The accusation of such negligence is common in nursing care. You just need a nurse attorney before dealing with accusation cases.
At the time of the incident, an LVN was employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at a hospital in El Paso, Texas, and had been in that position for three (3) years.
On or about January 16, 2018, while employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse, the LVN exceeded her authorized scope of practice and inappropriately administered morphine formulated for oral administration of the patient, via the patient’s peripherally inserted central catheter (P ICC) intravenous line, by aspirating the concentrated morphine from an oral syringe into a syringe with normal saline before administration. Additionally, the LVN failed to timely notify the physician of the medication error. The LVN called the physician that night with no return call the LVN spoke to the physician in the morning and he left no new orders. The LVN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient in that failure to administer medications as ordered by the physician could have resulted in non efficacious treatment, and administering medications via the wrong route could result in adverse reactions.
On or about January 1 6, 2018, the LVN failed to document monitoring the patient for adverse side effects after the medication error and failed to document the medication error in the patient’s medical record. The LVN’s conduct resulted in an incomplete medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers would not have complete information on which to base their care decisions.
On or about January 16, 2018, the LVN failed to inform the patient and/or family that morphine formulated for oral administration was inappropriately administered through the patient’s PICC line. The LVN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient from unknown or undetected changes in condition and may have contributed to the patient and/or family’s anxiety and suffering related to inappropriate administration of medication.
In response, the LVN admits that she gave 0.1 mg liquid oral morphine, diluted with normal saline, into the patient’s Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (P ICC); she reports that she recognized her error when she came out of the room and immediately notified the charge nurse. Also, she reports that she reassessed the patient, who remained stable with no signs of reactions noted; she reports that she was unable to file the incident report because she had no access to the reporting system, and she reports that she notified the physician when she returned to the facility.
The Texas Board of Nursing gave the LVN sufficient time to defend the complaints filed against her. However, there was a failure on the RN’s part to find the right nurse attorney to handle her case. The negligence of the nurse’s attorney led to the decision of the Texas BON to place the RN’s license under disciplinary action.
Equip yourself with the knowledge and expertise you need for a successful outcome by consulting a knowledgeable and experienced Texas RN/LVN license attorney. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is one of those dedicated nurse attorneys who helped represent more than 200 nurse cases over the past 16 years. Contact the Law Office of Yong J. An 24/7 through text or call at (832) 428-4579 for a confidential consultation regarding any accusations from the Texas BON.