Pharmacist Malpractice Liability and Risk Management Flashcards

1
Q

Malpractice

A

Negligence and a type of tort

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2
Q

Negligence

A

Is an unintentional act that causes harm, as contrasted from intentional torts

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3
Q

What is the purpose of Negligence or Malpractice Laws?

A

To compensate the victim and to deter careless and irresponsible acts

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4
Q

Settlements are common in malpractice but do they establish precedent?

A

NO

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5
Q

Summary Judgment means that there is no issue of material fact that would change the way that the ruling should go, and when appealed they what?

A

Establish Precedent

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6
Q

What are the FOUR elements of Negligence that are required in a plaintiff and must have a preponderance of evidence?

A
  1. Duty Owed
  2. Breach of Duty
  3. Causation
  4. Damages
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7
Q

What are the types of Affirmative Defense that a pharmacist can take?

A
  1. Contributory Negligence
  2. Statue of Limitation
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8
Q

Duty of Care

A

Objective standard requiring a degree of care that a reasonable, prudent pharmacist would use under similar circumstances

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9
Q

Pharmacist are held to an ERROR FREE standard for mechanical type acts that do not require professional judgement, but any decision that requires professional judgment will be based on what?

A

Resonableness

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10
Q

Breach of Duty

A
  1. Non-Judgmental Error in filling (misfiling) a Rx is a breach of duty as a matter of law
  2. Doctrine of negligence per se means that if a pharmacist violates a state or regulation the violation in itself could establish negligence
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11
Q

Causation: Actual Cause

A

Plantiff must prove defendant’s negligent conduct was a substantial factor in the harm caused

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12
Q

Causation: Proximate Cause

A

A determination of the extend to which the defendant should be held liable for the conduct

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13
Q

What are actual damages?

A
  1. Loss of Income
  2. Medical Expenses
  3. Pain and Suffering
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14
Q

What is the Eggshell Rule?

A

Must accept patient as he/she is

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15
Q

What are Punitive Damages?

A
  1. Awarded for willful or reckless negligence
  2. Considered as punishment
  3. Meant to punish the party that is being sued
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16
Q

Contributory Negligence

A

If the plaintiff has even 1% responsibility in their own injury, then might not be compensated at all

17
Q

Comparative Negligence

A

Splitting up the responsibility up by percentage and then the jury decides how much compensation will be awarded and defendants will pay their percentage of the total

18
Q

Statue of Limitations

A
  1. Plantiffs must bring claim within a specified period of time
  2. Statue of repose limits the discovery period time/time during which a case of action can arise
  3. 2 YEAR time period for torts in Oklahoma
19
Q

Assumption of Duty

A

A pharmacy will be held liable when it voluntarily assumes a function that it was under no legal obligation to assume and a patient relies on that function to his/her detriment

20
Q

What is the goal of risk management?

A

To reduce the incidence of pros thus protecting patients

21
Q

What is does an effective Risk Management require?

A

Develop of quality control systems

22
Q

What falls under Risk Assessment?

A
  1. Risk Identification – most important
  2. Risk Analysis
  3. Risk Evaluation
23
Q

Corporate Negligence

A
  1. Differs from professional negligence, it establishes that a corporation is responsible and liable for its own acts, apart from the acts of its employees
  2. Focuses on the company’s system as a cause of errors, rather than the individual
  3. A LOT of punitive damages
24
Q

Is it important to have individual malpractice insurance even if you are covered by an employer?

25
Drug Product Liability
Professional liability focuses on the conduct of the pharmacist as the factor in why a drug product was not safe, whereas drug product liability focuses on the PRODUCT ITSELF
26
Critical to any product liability action, the product must be proved defective, what are the THREE categories of defect?
1. Design 2. Manufacturing 3. Warning
27
What are the grounds for Product Liability?
1. Negligence 2. Breach of Warranty 3. Strict Liability SL
28
Vicarious Liability: Respondent Superior
1. Employee responsible for the negligent act of employees 2. Purpose of the rule: to cause employers to hire and train competent employees 3. Plaintiff has right to sue employer and/or employee
29
Traditional Rule of Law
Historically courts have taken the position that a pharmacist has not legal duty to warn a patient of adverse effects of a drug the pharmacist's duty to accurately dispense the Rx as written
30
Reasons for Traditional Rule of Law
1. Relationship 2. Physician Primary 3. Foreseeability 4. Social Policy
31
Duty of a pharmacist to provide expanded patient services based on what THREE factors?
1. Relationship 2. Foreseeability 3. Public Policy
32
Court found pharmacists have NO general duty to warn absent "special circumstances" which include what?
1. Special instructions by manufacturer to warn 2. Contraindications 3. Special knowledge by pharmacist of patient's condition