A nurse recently committed a drug error in which a client received 10 times the ordered dose of an opioid analgesic. How might the concept of respondeat superior affect the consequences of this event?
A) The nurse's employer may share some of the liability for this error.
B) There is partial obligation on the part of the client to refuse unreasonable interventions.
C) The nurse's peers have a responsibility to oversee his or her practice.
D) There is no legal liability unless the client suffers injury as a result of the nurse's actions.
Ans: A
Feedback:
A legal term, respondeat superior, is used to describe the legal responsibility of an employer for acts of an employee. In other words, both the nurse who injures a client and the nurse's employer can be held liable for the nurse's acts. This legal concept does not place responsibility on the nurse's peers or the client. The presence of absence of injury is not directly relevant.
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