I worked with a critical care doctor at a teaching facility who told me this: “Listen, Thompson, Don’t forget this. They want candy stripers practicing medicine.” That was 1992. He meant that hospital systems were leaning on the nurses to expand their traditional roles to maximize profit.
Meanwhile, lawyers are citing cases from a century ago that no longer apply to the current circumstance. Florida has its own ancient case law precedent that doesn’t match the times. Here’s what happens when the high court in a state sets about updating it. Trial courts following stale old precedent start getting overturned.
A trial judge blocked testimony in 2018 that would have questioned the CRNA’s decisions in Amaya’s case. The judge cited a court precedent that stemmed from the 1932 case Byrd v. Marion General Hospital. It protected nurses from legal liability when they were working under a doctor’s supervision.
Here is the story from North Carolina.
N.C. Supreme Court overrules 90-year-old precedent protecting nurses from legal liability
