Reference no: EM133159161

Jacob is an outstanding quarterback on his high school football team who has been offered a college scholarship when he graduates. Unfortunately, Jacob was injured during a late summer practice just before his senior year. He suffered a compound fracture of the fibula bone in his lower leg. Since the fracture broke through his skin, he required a surgical repair to align or set the bone and close the skin. Dr. M., an orthopedic surgeon, kept Jacob in the hospital for three days and ordered intravenous antibiotics to be administered. When he was discharged from the hospital, Jacob was told to come in for an office visit once a week for six weeks.

At six weeks Jacob's parents took him into the surgeon's office for his cast removal, and except for a slightly inflamed and draining area around his stitches, Jacob's broken bone seemed to be healing. After his cast was removed, Jacob was told to wait for a few minutes while the surgeon went across the hall to check on another patient. Dr. M. removed his gloves, washed his hands in Jacob's exam room, and then went across the hall to examine another patient, Sarah K. The doors between the exam rooms were left open and Jacob's parents could see and hear Dr. M. examine Sarah's infected leg. They could tell that Dr. M. did not replace his gloves. He told Sarah that he was glad to see that her osteomyelitis (a serious bone infection) was almost better and he told her to come back in another week. Dr. M. then came back into Jacob's room, still without gloves, and examined Jacob's leg more carefully. He was concerned about the inflammation around the incision site and told the parents to keep the area clean and dry. He wrote Jacob a prescription for an oral antibiotic and said he could start to put a little weight on his leg. When Jacob came back the following week, his leg was grossly infected with a large abscess. Jacob had to have further surgery to drain the abscess. The pathology report of tissue specimens from Jacob's leg determined that he had developed osteomyelitis. This infection took several months to heal. The delay in his recovery meant that Jacob was unable to play football that fall and lost his chance at a college scholarship. Jacob's parents asked Dr. M. to provide them with the results of the tissue test. They then sued Dr. M. for negligence.

1. What obvious mistake did Dr. M. make?
2. Did Jacob or his parents contribute in any way to his condition?
3. What could all of the involved parties have done to prevent this situation from occurring?
4. Discuss what the term standard of care means for someone in your profession.