Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

SUMMARY CAS cify of San Rfe All the elements necessary to establish negligence w

ID: 347229 • Letter: S

Question

SUMMARY CAS cify of San Rfe All the elements necessary to establish negligence were wel established in Niles v. City of San Rafael.34 O at approximately 3:30 PM, Kelly Niles, a young boy, got into an argument with another boy on a ball field, and he was hit on the right side of his head. He rode home on his bicycle and waited for his father, who was to pick him up for the weekend At approximately 5:00 PM, his father arrived to pick him up. By the time they arrived in San Francisco, Kelly appeared to be in a great deal of pain. His father then decided to take him to Mount Zion Hospital, which was a short distance away. He arrived at the hospital emergency department at approximately 5:45 PM On admission to the emergency department, Kelly was taken to a treatment room by a registered nurse. The nurse obtained a history of the injury and took Kelly's pulse and blood pres- sure. During his stay in the emergency department, he was irri- table, vomited several times, and complained that his head hurt An intern who had seen Kelly wrote, "pale, diaphoretic, and groggy," on the patient's chart. Skull X-rays were ordered and found to be negative except for soft tissue swelling that was not noted until later. The intern then decided to admit the patient. A second-year resident was called, and he agreed with the intern's decision. An admitting clerk called the intern and indicated that the patient had to be admitted by an attending physician. The resident went as far as to write "admit" on the chart and later June 26, 1973

Explanation / Answer

The case is "Niles VS The city of San Rafael". The facts presented in the case suggests that due to negligence on the part of the hospital to be able to fully diagnose the head injury to the boy caused his condition to become worse and he was discharged from the hospital without properly diagnosing the symptoms and impacts of the issue. The court was deciding the issues of pain suffering of the patient and the cause of the effect of negligence on the part of the hospital that led to the said problem.

The court decided in favour of the patient and found the hospital guilty of negligence on their part and causing harm to the patient due to improper care and decided 4 million dollars in favour of the patient. The reason behind the decision of the court was due to the fact that the hospital did not diagnose the symptoms properly even though the patient exhibited them in while his stay at the hospital. He was released without proper care and, due to the diagnosis not being able to be done properly, caused pain and harm to the patient that otherwise could have been saved.

This is a clear case of negligence and improper conduct and the decision by the court was right due to the facts provided in the given case. It can be said that if the care provided by the hospital wouldn't have been at fault the patient could have been saved from further harm that was caused to him and essentially, would have allowed both the parties to stay happy.