ìUnfortunately, in our initial treatment of Mr. Duncan, despite our best intentions and a highly skilled medical team, we made mistakes,î Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief clinical officer for Texas Health Resources, told Congress. ìWe did not correctly diagnose his symptoms as those of Ebola. We are deeply sorry.î
Many details about Duncanís care remain unknown, unconfirmed, or in dispute. Please review in the assigned reading the best attempt at a timeline based on information from Vargaís congressional testimony; Duncanís medical records, which were obtained by the Associated Press; as well as a lengthy statement provided by National Nurses United, a union that is serving as the voice for an unknown number of Presbyterian Hospital nurses who have raised serious allegations of missteps, mistakes, and failures during Duncanís treatment.
In a 2- to 3-page paper, discuss the following:
Is this statement by the chief clinical officer for the Texas Human Resources a breach of HIPAA? Why or why not?
Do the nurses, physicians, and staff who came in contact with Duncan have any grounds to sue the hospital, or should they have treated Duncan as if he had an infectious disease?
What was the hospital administratorís responsibility in the scenario?
Identify at least 2-3 ethical, legal, and regulatory principles that apply to this case.
Conduct additional research to gather sufficient information to justify/support your strategic plan.
Limit your response to a maximum of 3 pages (title and reference pages are not included in page number count).
Support your report with peer-reviewed articles, using at least 3-4 references.