For cases involving nursing home are, it is a clear violation of the federal regulations (OBRA) for a nurse to fail in complying with a physician’s admission order. These same regulations also strongly suggest that the failure to follow any physician’s order, such as the administration of medication, will constitute a violation of a resident’s nursing home resident rights. Should any documents have been intentionally altered, this may also give rise to a federal criminal prosecution.

You can read more practice tips in my chapter Screening the Nursing Malpractice Case, in a text edited by Patricia Iyer, RN MSN LNCC. More information about Nursing Malpractice, Third Edition, 2007 may be found at here.