Judicial deployment of nursing error

Abstract

Objective: To characterize lawsuits with judicial decisions by errors involving nursing professionals. Methods: A documentary study, with cases judged and concluded that dealt with error involving nursing professionals. The survey was carried out in May and June 2018, on the online website of the Court of Justice of Paraná State. The information of interest was place of occurrence, professionals involved, characteristics of victims, error and outcome of the investigation. For analysis, the data were submitted to descriptive statistics. Results: There were 31 cases judged, most of which occurred in a hospital (90.32%) and with adults (64.71%). In eight cases, the victim died; in half, the victims had temporary disability (17.50%); seven people had permanent disability. The most frequent error involved medication administration (38.71%), followed by delivery error (19.35%). In more than half of the cases, police report card was registered by the victim (58.06%) and only one medical expert was consulted during the lawsuit (61.29%). In 22 cases, the professional was convicted. Of these, 20 were civil and two criminal convictions. On average, civil lawsuits generated reimbursement of about 10,654 US dollars. In criminal cases, the average length of imprisonment converted into community services was 18 months. Conclusion: Lawsuits culminated in convictions. In addition, they point to the need for better structure and support for professionals who undergo legal experience.