Nursing Negligence Opinion: Was Discharging This Post-Op Patient Justified?

Exploring decision-making through a nursing negligence opinion

When a post-operative patient raises allegations of poor care and premature discharge, an expert nursing negligence opinion becomes critical to separating emotion from evidence. In this case, a patient alleged that nurses ignored signs of infection and discharged him too early after hand surgery. But did the documentation support this claim?

What a nursing negligence opinion revealed about discharge reasoning

The nursing notes and clinical records indicated that the patient was:

• Alert and oriented

• Observed with normal temperature, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation

• Recently seen by the treating surgical team following dressing care

Nurses followed instructions from the medical team regarding discharge, and no contemporaneous entries suggested the patient was acutely unwell at the time. Despite the patient’s later claim of feeling unwell, these concerns were not documented at the time of discharge, an omission that weighed significantly in the nursing negligence opinion.

“The nursing staff implemented a medically approved discharge. There is no evidence they acted outside accepted standards or failed to escalate concerns appropriately.”– Apex Nursing Expert Witness

Why documentation protects both patients and professionals

Expert opinion concluded that the care provided aligned with a reasonable standard expected from a competent nursing team. This case demonstrates how accurate and contemporaneous documentation is a nurse’s best defence.

Key learnings:

1. Ensure all patient concerns are clearly recorded, even when verbalised informally.

2. Follow EWS and other scoring tools to guide escalation.

3. Document rationale for discharge decisions, especially in high-risk post-operative patients.

4. Maintain communication clarity between medical and nursing teams.

The nursing negligence opinion in this case found no breach of duty. Instead, it highlighted the value of integrated multidisciplinary decision-making and robust record-keeping.

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