A Malpractice Suit Against a Hospital
Hospital jumping is a term hospital personnel use to describe the movement of incompetent and
potentially negligent employees from hospital to hospital. One factor contributing to hospital jumping is the
reluctance of hospitals to release information to other hospitals that are checking references.
Ridgeview Hospital was sued for negligence in its screening of employees. The case involved the
alleged incorrect administration to an infant of a medication that nearly caused the child’s death. The party
bringing suit contended that the nurse who administered the drug was negligent, as was the hospital
because it had failed to make a thorough investigation of the nurse’s work history and background. It was
learned that the nurse had been hired by Ridgeview before it had received a letter of reference from her
previous employer verifying her employment history. In support of the plaintiff’s case, uncontested
information was presented about a similar incident of negligence in patient care by the nurse in her
previous employment.
Ridgeview Hospital’s personnel director, John Reeves, took the position that reference checks were a
waste of time because area hospital personnel directors would not provide what they thought might be
defamatory information about former employees. He further stated that in checking reference sources,
these same personnel directors would request information they themselves would not give.
Reeves’s lawyer concluded that the hospital would have to choose between two potentially damaging
alternatives in adopting a personnel screening policy. It could continue not to verify references, thereby
risking malpractice suits such as the one discussed. Alternatively, it could implement a policy of giving out
all information on past employees and risk defamation suits.
Questions
1.
Which of the two alternatives would you recommend to the hospital and why?
2.
What key questions (limit to 5) could be asked in a recruitment interview to help eliminate the
problem?
3.
What selection tests might you employ in an attempt to identify a suitable nurse candidate?
4.
Recommend to the hospital another alternative for their personnel screening policy?
