Professional Negligence Case Notes Essay Example for Free

Professional Negligence Case Notes Essay In relation to professional negligence the concept of the reasonable man becomes that of the reasonable professional. The reasonable man will normally lack the skill and expertise acquired by the professional. These professional men and women are not only required to take reasonable care but also to measure up to the standard of competency that can be expected from such professionals-that is the standard of, for example the reasonable nurse or the reasonable solicitor. The Irish Supreme Court considered the issue of Medical Negligence in The case of Dunne v. The National Maternity Hospital {1989} IR 91 and set out the standard of care in what we call professional negligence. In this case the plaintiff sued the hospital, claiming that he had suffered severe brain damage while being delivered, due to the negligence of the attending doctors. The Chief Justice set out the standard of care required from medical doctors (and equally other professionals) as : â€Å"The true test for establishing negligence in the diagnosis or treatment on the part of a medical practitioner is whether he has been proved to be guilty of such failure as no medical practitioner of equal specialist or general status and skill would be guilty of if acting with ordinary care† Page 109 Thus the courts rely on what is reasonable among the profession. In determining what is reasonable for a nurse in any circumstances the courts will consider whether the nurse acted in accordance with general and accepted practice. Generally if they have acted in accordance with general and accepted practice then the nurse will not be negligent. In the Dunne case the Chief justice as expressed this If an allegation of negligence against a medical practitioner is based on proof that he deviated from a general and accepted practice, that will not establish negligence unless it is also proved that the course he did take was one which no medical practitioner of like specialisation and skill would have followed had he been taking ordinary care required from a person of his qualifications If a medical practitioner charged with negligence defends his conduct by establishing that he followed a practice which was general, and hich was approved of by his colleagues of similar specialisation and skill, he cannot escape liability if in reply the plaintiff establishes that such practice has inherent defects which ought to be obvious to any person giving the matter due consideration. An honest difference of opinion between doctors as to which is the better of two ways of treating a patient does not provide any ground for leaving to the ju ry {or judge} as to whether a person who has followed one course rather than the other has been negligence. It is not for a jury {or judge} to decide which of two alternative courses of treatment is in their {or his} opinion preferable, but their (or his) function is merely to decide whether the course of treatment followed, on the evidence, complied with the careful conduct of a medical practitioner of like specialisation and skill to that professed by the defendant. † This comprises a major statement by the Irish Supreme Court as regards to the general principles in relation to professional negligence. A number of points might be noted in relation to these principles: 1. It was accepted that â€Å"general and approved practice† need not be universal –but it must be approved of, and implemented by, a substantial number of the profession holding the relevant specialist or general qualification 2. A professional may deviate from general and approved practice although with the limitation that it should not be one that â€Å"no medical practitioner of like specialisation and skill would have followed had he been taking ordinary care required from a person of his qualifications† This provision acknowledges the nature of professional work and the need to employ discretion in order to advance professional development 3. It is expert evidence that determines what â€Å"general and approved practice† is. In the case of a professional that is evidence of fellow members of the profession. These principles have been upheld by the Irish courts on a number of occasions Example : Healy v The North -western Health Board (unreported, High Court, 31 January 1996, Flood J) Facts: this case concerned a difference of opinion as regards what course of action should have been followed in the discharge of a entally ill patient. It was contended that the Health board was negligent in the discharge of the plaintiff’s father who committed suicide following discharge. This man had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital suffering from depression and was discharged after nine days. It was claimed that the discharge procedure was not properly conducted. This procedure in relation to a patient suffering from depression involved consideration of the potential risk of suicidal traits. An expert witness concluded that the hospital notes did not appear to show a proper assessment of risk had been undertaken prior to discharge. Apart from one note there was no evidence that staff carried out a suicide risk assessment. Another expert was of the view that it was not sufficient to ask the patient about suicide especially when there were some pointers towards suicidal thoughts. Expert witnesses said that in relation to suicide assessment there were two schools of thought . One school believed that the process of suicide risk assessment must be a formal one consisting of consistent and continuous inquiry into the mental state of the patient . The discharge must be as a result of an informed decision accompanied by the risk assessment The second school of thought expressed a more informal approach, including discussion with other healthcare professional involved in care and employing a checklist approach. The practice in many parts of Ireland was of the more informal nature and if the patient did not bring up the issue then it was not followed by further questions. The court in deciding the question applied the principles stated in the Dunne case. The test applied then was whether the defendant acted with ordinary care of an equally competent practitioner as to the administration of a general practice approved by a substantial amount of practitioners of like skill and specialisation. The principles in the Dunne case state that a difference of opinion is no grounds to establish liability. Applying these principles to the case the court held: It was not up to the judge to decide which of two schools of thought –the formal or informal – was to be preferred. It was however inherent in both that the risk of suicide in a patient with depression was assessed prior to discharge. In this the court did not interfere in the professional judgement as to which form that assessment took but it was clear that it was â€Å" general and approved practice† that the risk of suicide was assessed prior to ischarge of a patient suffering from depression. In this instance the court accepted that the procedure was not incorrect but the question arose as to whether it was carried out in a manner that accorded with general and approved practice. The court held that there was no indication that the assessment had been carried out, as was good practice and noted in the patients clinical notes. There was no evidence then that the patient was in firm remission. The court held the defendant negligent in not having carried out an assessment And, if he had carried out an assessment, it would have been inadequate or inadequately considered. There are a number of points that might be made in relation to this judgement-there were two aspects of the care of this patient that led the court to consider the defendants negligent: 1 The hospital did not maintain proper clinical records on the plaintiff’s father 2 The decision that the patient was in firm remission was not supported by general and approved practice of assessment of risk of suicide

Internet Censorship Essay - The ACLU and the Child Online Protection Act :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The ACLU and the Child Online Protection Act The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was approved by Congress on August 16, 1998. It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate how the ACLU destroyed this family-oriented act. Immediately after COPA was signed by the President, the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of groups representing publishers, Internet Service Providers, journalists, and the technology industry challenged the law in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Federal District Court Judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr. issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from enforcing COPA. On January 11, 1999 both sides filed briefs to argue the constitutionality of the law.(ACLU) Congress's intention in enacting COPA was to protect minor children from access to free erotic "teaser" pictures available at commercial pornography sites on the World Wide Web. In order to accomplish this governmental interest, the law specifically requires commercial pornography sellers to take a credit card or adult PIN or access number in order to insure that visiting children or teenagers will not be able to see graphic sex pictures on the front pages of commercial pornography WWW. sites. COPA provides punishment of up to six months in jail and a $50,000 fine for each violation. Plaintiffs alleged in their brief that COPA violates the First Amendment because: (1) It creates an effective ban on constitutionally protected speech by and to adults, and is not the least restrictive means of accomplishing any governmental purpose, and therefore is substantially overbroad; (2) It interferes with the rights of minors to access and view material that is not harmful to them by prohibiting the dissemination of any material with sexual content that is "harmful to minors" of any age, despite the fact that the material will not be "harmful" to all minors; (3) It inhibits an individual's right to communicate and access information anonymously; and (4) It is unconstitutionally vague. The government argued that COPA is carefully limited in scope to deal only with the problem of "teaser" images that exist on the World Wide Web (meaning the law excludes other Internet, Usenet, e-mail, BBS, chat and online services) and further the government maintained that the law is directed solely at commercial sellers of pornography which is deemed to be "obscene to minors" or "harmful to minors"(meaning all non-commercial, non-profit, educational, governmental and private communications are excluded).

Fire Behavior Essay

Fire has been associated with mankind for a very long time. There was probably a time when mankind had no fire, and later became acquainted with fire, derived naturally. Man then learnt to preserve fire so as to be able to use it whenever required (Ed Semmelroth, 1998). Today man has come a long way in not only being able to generate fire, but also vary its properties according to his needs and requirements. Today, man has successfully learned to harness this fire power because of his better understanding of the properties of fire. The qualities of fire are various, ignited by different factors and sustained by many factors. A fire which keeps spreading can be examined and estimated using various parameters. Generally people including fire fighters have less understanding on the spread of fire and concentrate only the closest fire front or that which look dangerous. However fire can be more effectively tackled when the science behind it is better understood. The attributes of a fire like the direction of spread, its strength etc. are determined by fire behavior. There are several types of fire based on their strength and spread. For instance, firestorms are high strength or high intensity fires, spreading rapidly. Fires of low strength and rapid spread are referred to as flashy fires while fires with low spread and low intensity are called creep fires (Marco Morais, 2001). The behavior of fires depends on several factors like fuel, weather and topography. A change in any of these factors would cause an appropriate and immediate change in the behavior of fire. The fire behavior is also affected by the interaction of these factors. Fuel is an important determinant of fire behavior and most fuels don’t change rapidly. The behavior of fire is directly related to the amount of fuel present. Lower quantities of fuel result in low strength, low spreading fires, like creep fires. Fuel in larger quantities could produce heavy fires that are most likely to get out of control. When the quantity of fuel is more, the intensity of fire is more and more heat is generated. The total quantity of fuel present in a given area is determined by fuel loading, which is the amount of fuel present in a given area that can burn under high or intense conditions. The fuel loading factor is almost constant and require a long period of time, like a year, to change. On the other hand, the available fuel is the quantity of fuel that can burn at any particular time, under the existing circumstances relevant to that point of time. The size of fuel is important in deciding its ignition time. Smaller fuel can be ignited more rapidly than larger fuels. This is because the time required to heat and ignite fuel is directly proportional to the ratio of surface area to volume. The presence of small sized fuels is also essential for the spread of fire and constitute the fuel bed; and help in igniting larger fuels. The burnout periods of the fuel are determined by their diameter. Fuels with a diameter of less than 0. 25 inches are classified as one hour fuel while fuels with a diameter of 1 to 3 inches are referred to as 100 hour fuel. Dry leaves, twigs and sticks are examples of small fuels while logs and big stumps are large fuels (PFMT). The behavior of fire is also influenced by the arrangement of fuels. Fuels that are more loosely arranged would quickly ignite and burn more rapidly than compactly arranged fuels, due to the availability of oxygen. There are several fuel models which are based on the main cause of fire propagation, like grass, shrub, litter, logging slash etc. The fire behavior can be easily assessed when a single fuel model corresponds to a particular area. By observing the fires and analyzing their behavior, it is possible to assign a fuel model based on its characteristics (NIFC, 2006). Each model has distinct qualities and sometimes the fire may be attributed to the interaction of several models. The behavior of fire is also dependent on the amount of moisture content in the fuel. Combustion is slow in moist fuels as the heat is utilized in converting moisture to steam. The fuel can reach ignition temperature and undergo combustion only when the entire moisture is removed. The behavior of fire is also dependent on the shape of the fuels present. Fuels having a flat shape have a higher surface-volume ratio and therefore burn more rapidly. Weather is another important factor of behavior determination. Winds of high speed, low humidity and absence of rains contribute to the acceleration of fire. High temperature and hot air can reduce the moisture content present in the fuel, contributing to the intensity and spread of fire. Wind is a source of oxygen required for fire sustenance and winds of higher speed provide more oxygen and thus more intensity fire. It should be noted here that when the wind speed is doubled, the rate of fire spread is quadrupled. Winds can also carry with them small burning fuels which can start fresh fires on their own. During periods of drought, the shrubs and grass are dry and serve as an ideal fuel for fire. Under such intense dry conditions, even logs and greener leaves get dried quickly and become inflammable. Therefore, rains have a dampening effect on the fuels and suppress fires. (Australian Bureau of Metrology, 2008) The weather changes are rapid, changing even on an hourly basis, causing appropriate change in fire behavior. Topography or the nature of the earth’s surface is an important determinant of fire behavior. The characteristics of a region are unique and is the resultant of existing natural and man made features. The topography of a given region doesn’t change much. In the mountainous regions, topographic factors contributing to fire behavior are crucial while most of these factors are not relevant to fire behavior in the coastal plains. These factors include slope, aspect and barriers. Fire is spread more rapidly up slope than down slope as fuels are preheated by the approaching flames which are closer to them on the uphill side than the downhill side. Hot air from fire move upward drying up fuels which facilitate ignition and burning. Fire spread is doubled when a given slope is raise by 10% (Tropical Savannas CRC, 2008). The direction of the slope favorable for fire is indicated by the aspect factor, which determines the amount of solar radiation received by the slope face. South to southwest facing slopes receive more solar radiation than slopes that face the northern direction. These slopes which receive more radiation would have less humidity and moisture, be drier and burn easily. The barriers to fire in a topography are the presence of roads, lakes, wet swamps etc. Such barriers prevent or retard the advance of fire. Complex terrain can result in fire behavior being very erratic. REFERENCES Marco Morais. What is fire behavior? (2001) [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://www. physics. ucsb. edu/~complex/research/hfire/fbehave Private Forest Management Team Fuel’s effect on fire behavior [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://www. pfmt. org/fire/fuels_effect. htm Tropical Savannas CRC (2008) Topography [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://learnline. cdu.edu. au/wip/fire2/fundamentals/topography. html Australian Bureau of Metrology (2008) Weather and fire Topography [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://www. bom. gov. au/inside/services_policy/fire_ag/bushfire/wandfire. htm National Interagency Fire Center (2006) NWCG Fireline Handbook [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://www. nwcg. gov/pms/pubs/410-2/appendixB. pdf Ed Semmelroth (1998) A brief history of fire and its uses [Electronic Version]. Downloaded on 28th May 2008 from http://hearth. com/what/historyfire. html

Making Difficult Decisions - 1108 Words

Engelsk tentamen Task 3 Making difficult decisions is a part of life We face decisions everyday, we decide what to wear in the morning, what to eat for breakfast, how to get to school, the list goes on and on. But sometimes we have to make decisions that mean a lot more, that have consequences no matter what you choose and that can effect the people around you. In this text I am going to present two films where the characters have hard decisions to make. Billy Elliot is a film about Billy, an 11-year-old boy who lives with his father, brother and Nan (grandmother). The film takes place in â€Å"Everington† in the UK, from 1984 to 1985 which was in the middle of the UK miners strike. The main conflict of the film is that Billy wants†¦show more content†¦She decides to leave with Christian. If they leave, The Duke wont find them and she will never have to lay eyes on that miserable place again. At least that was the plan until she finds out she is dying of tuberculosis. Now she has to decide if she wants to spend the little time she has left with Christian, and betray all her friends. Or she can stay with The Duke, which will help everyone at The Moulin Rouge, and it will protect Christian. I know that it seems quite clear what she should do, she should stay with The Duke, she has such little time left and should not be selfish and spend it with Christian when it will affect everyone she cares about in a negative way. S he will break Christians heart either way. He will be heartbroken if she dies, but it would still be worse if she lied to him and said that she had chosen The Duke. She decides to stay with The Duke, and when she tells Christian, you can see that it pains her to do it. He denies it and wants her to tell him why she changed her mind, he knows that what she is saying not true. So she lies and says that she would rather live a wealthy lifestyle than be with him. Watching as she does it is really heartbreaking because you know that she is lying. And the worst part is what he will think of her when she is dead, when the truth is that she was protecting everyone before she died. As a summary, I would say that not all of us have to makeShow MoreRelatedMaking difficult decisions show up in life more often than realized. These choices can alter a800 Words   |  4 PagesMaking difficult decisions show up in life more often than realized. These choices can alter a person’s life in good and bad ways. â€Å"The Bicycle† by Jillian Horton is a story that focuses on a young talented pianist named Hannah. Throughout the story Hannah deals with the strict teachings of her Tante Rose, which leads her to make ironic decisions. 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