A nurse performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)on a 92-year-old with brittle bones and breaks a rib during the procedure,which then punctures a lung.The patient recovers completely without any residual problems and sues the nurse for pain and suffering,and for malpractice.What key point will the prosecution attempt to prove?

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Certain criteria are necessary to establish nursing malpractice.In this situation,although harm was caused,it was not because of failure of the nurse to perform a duty according to standards the way other nurses would have performed in the same situation.The nurse would have had to have done the procedure correctly,or the patient most likely would not have survived without any residual problems such as brain damage.The fact that the patient sustained injury as a result of age and physical status does not mean the nurse breached any duty to the patient.The nurse would need to make sure the defense attorney knew that the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)was done correctly.Without intervention,the patient most likely would not have survived.The prosecution would try to prove that a breach of duty had occurred,which had caused injury,not that cardiopulmonary resuscitation was done correctly.The defense team,not the prosecution,would explain the correlation between brittle bones and rib fractures during CPR.

A Nurse Performs Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)on a 92-Year-Old with Brittle