At the recent INS Conference (my first time), I was sure one speaker spoke of nurses be brought suit against for administering infusates when there was no blood return and the physician instructed the nurse to use the line anyway. I am looking for evidence of actual court cases to bring to our risk management department. The " the use it any way" is undermining the education regarding catheter patency and a functioning catheter. Our policies at the present do not address a course of action for the nurse other than to notify the physician.
You will have a tough time searching for legal cases. Most cases are settled and never go to court. This automatically means that the settlement is private and neither party can disclose the amount of money in that settlement. For the ones that do make it to court, they are in the public domain from the court records. However you will need to know the case name and its location to find the trial transcripts. There are databases to search such as lexusnexus.com, maybe .org, not sure, but they are not free. The nurse should always refuse to use any catheter that will not produce a blood return until the fluid pathway has been identified through a dye injection through the catheter or successful use of a thrombolytic has re-established the blood return. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861