Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

In the United States, advanced practice nurse practitioners have varying degrees of prescriptive authority, over certain medications and medical devices. They must thus display a comprehensive understanding of the legal implications associated with prescribing drugs, in addition to their ethical obligations (Billstein-Leber et al., 2018). Clinical practice ethical guidelines recommend all clinicians with prescriptive privileges, ensure that their patients are protected from harm. The provided case study however demonstrates a situation where a nurse practitioner prescribed an adult dose of a drug to a 5-year-old. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the ethical and legal implications associated with this scenario, and effective mitigating strategies to prevent such occurrences in the future.

Ethical and Legal Implications

            In this scenario, the medication error displayed poses substantial ethical implications for the prescriber, pharmacist, patients, and the patient’s family. The nurse practitioner as the prescriber is required to uphold ethical principles governing patient safety. It was thus an act of unprofessionalism to make such a mistake of giving a child an adult dose, knowing very well the harm that the drug could cause. Ethically, the nurse is required to ensure beneficence in the process of care provision, which was violated by the incidence of medication error (Tigard, 2019). Consequently, clinicians are required to uphold justice in practice, which required the nurse to follow the necessary process required to address the medication error, rather than neglecting the patient. With this act, the nurse exposes the patient to the possibility of a legal lawsuit.

The pharmacist on the other hand is required to counter-check the prescription once received. In case of a medical error, the pharmacist must contact the prescriber and discuss the identified error before taking the necessary actions required to address the issue (Robertson & Long, 2018). However, if the pharmacist fails to identify the medical error, then he or she will also bear the ethical and legal burden associated with posing harm to the patient due to the medication error made by the nurse practitioner.

The patient, on the other hand, is a minor, who will suffer substantial harm from a drug overdose. The parents, who bear the legal responsibility of taking part in making healthcare decisions for their child, can sue both the prescriber and the pharmacist for the medication error (Varkey, 2021). Consequently, the patient’s parents have a legal right to information concerning the medication prescribed to their child, and how to take it, which should have been provided by the pharmacist.

Strategies to Address Disclosure and Nondisclosure

Disclosing medication error is an ethical act thus must be exhibited by all authorized prescribers in case they are faced with such a situation. In South Carolina, provisions for medication errors reporting are organized according to the South Carolina Code of Regulations. Medication errors are recognized in this state as one of the most crucial treatment-caused risks to the patient. As such, the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs demands clinicians to report every medication error that may occur in the course of care provision (

Strategies for Appropriate Decision Making

When faced with such a situation as an advanced practice nurse, I will always decide on disclosing the information to the patient. Medication safety is a crucial aspect in safeguarding patients from harm during the care delivery process. As such, in case of an error, the nurse needs to come forward to avoid legal penalties associated with non-disclosure(Varkey,2021). I will utilize two main strategies to decide on how to disclose the matter to the patient. First, I will explain to the patient how the medication error occurred to regain trust essential for a healthy patient-provider relationship. I will then expound on how the harmful impact of the error can be ameliorated and provide appropriate steps which will be taken to ensure that such an error will never happen again. This will help regain the patient’s confidence in the care plan hence promoting positive care outcomes.

Writing Prescriptions to Minimize Medication Errors

The process of writing a prescription mainly involves six steps. First, the prescriber must evaluate the patient’s problem, then specify the therapeutic objective (Mullen et al., 2018). After which the prescriber will select the most effective drug therapy, and initiate the therapy, with appropriate consideration of the dosage, freque