The Snow Storm Lawsuit
Name : Ms. Nongluck Loahapoonrungsi
Strayer University
Health Services Policy, Law and Ethics
HAS 515
Professor : Danita Hunter, DHA, PMP
Date : 01/24/11

Scenario:
You are the Chief Executive Officer at a small non-profit community hospital. In January the area was hit by a large snow storm while you were vacationing in the Bahamas. Many of the hospital staff who provided patient care called out from work on the 3-11 and 11-7 shifts. Despite efforts from the nurse managers to get relief staff, only one nurse agreed to come in. As a result, the patient units were understaffed and health care personnel on day shift were required to remain on their assigned unit until they were relieved from duty.
During the course of this occurrence several patients sustained minor injuries from falls out of bed and one patient was given the incorrect medication, resulting in death. The nurse on duty left the hospital to buy dinner at the corner Wendy’s Restaurant.
After one year, the families of these patients sued the hospital on behalf of their deceased relatives, and you are one of the parties mentioned in the suit. The hospital refused liability, stating that: the patients who sustained a fall were awake, oriented and experienced no limitation in mobility; the patient who was given the incorrect medication died not from staff negligence, but from an unidentified allergic reaction to a food substance and had no history of allergies.

1. Identify and explain at least three legal considerations.
Corporate liability is one legal consideration that the hospital is negligent itself. Corporate negligence is the failure of the task providing the accommodations and facilities necessary to carry out the charitable purpose of the corporation. However the hospital refuse the liability, but the situation is shown that the hospital should