Hazardous Therapies

More elaborate or dangerous therapies, such as chemotherapy, demand a more complete disclosure of the proposed therapy and its risks. The hospital has potential liability in this type of therapy because the drugs are usually administered by nursing personnel. For example, many cancer chemotherapeutic drugs are very irritating and can cause severe tissue injury if they escape from the vein during administration. While the nursing personnel can minimize the occurrence of this type of injury, they cannot prevent it entirely. The patient must be warned about this risk or the hospital may be sued.