Edwards v. Brandywine Hospital

OLSZEWSKI, Judge:

In 1986, Charles Edwards was a 69-year-old retired steel worker with an artificial hip. He • arrived at the Brandywine Hospital emergency room on August 25, complaining of hip pain. The hospital admitted him, and the nursing staff installed a heparin lock on his left hand. A heparin lock is a device which allows multiple intravenous fluids to be introduced at a common point.

Mr. Edwards stayed at the hospital for five days. The heparin lock was left in place for either three or four days, in apparent violation of standards promulgated by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.…