A 33-Year-Old Woman Is Moved from a Small Community Hospital

A 33-year-old woman is moved from a small community hospital to the university medical center owing to severe pyelonephritis with sepsis. She has a history of recurring urinary tract infections as a result of urine retention caused by a spinal cord injury as a youngster. The patient is febrile and sluggish when he arrives. She offers no more background, and the only information accessible is from the originating hospital's handwritten records, which are illegible. The patient is hospitalized to the critical care unit and given the antibiotics imipenem and vancomycin. The patient gets a rash and significant respiratory distress overnight, necessitating temporary artificial ventilation. The following morning, a transcribed physician note from the originating hospital arrives by fax and indicates that the patient has an allergy to multiple antibiotics, including imipenem.  When discussing events with the patient and her family, which of the following statements is associated with reduced malpractice liability for the treating clinician?

A) "As your attending physician, this mistake is my fault.  I take full responsibility."
B) "I am so sorry an error led to your allergic reaction.  I will do my best to help you through it."
C) "There are things you can do to prevent problems like this.  I recommend you get an allergy alert bracelet."
D) "Unfortunately, modern antibiotics can have serious side effects.  But I am glad to see you are doing better."
E) "Unfortunately, we did not get information about your medication allergy yesterday.  That is why you received the wrong antibiotic."

Correct Answer:

Verified

Unlock this answer now
Get Access to more Verified Answers free of charge

Access For Free