C/N/86. Incident report on the death patient X admitted with Acute Pancreatitis who received enteral feeding via a misplaced naso-gastric tube by Nurse Y

This report is going to note the actions of the nurse and then will discuss whether she has been negligent and in the summary considers how the legal ramifications indicates a breach of the professional, ethical and moral standards of her profession if guidelines were not followed. Prior to this discussion it is assumed that patient X has consented to all treatment, except resuscitation. As naso-gastric tube feeding is now considered treatment there is no breach of a person's integrity through force-feeding, as per Airedale NHS Trust v Bland. It considers the guidelines on inserting a naso-gastric tube and sets up a case study where this is breached and the extreme circumstances that breaking guidelines can result in. It is an extreme case, but illustrates what can happen by ignoring procedures without appropriate reasons. It considers the legal and professional consequences of these actions and finally considers the ethical requirements of a nurse.