In the practice of medicine, health care professionals use medical devices to diagnose and treat patients. Therefore, the clinical staff not only needs to become knowledgeable and skilled in their understanding of human physiology, they must also be competent in using the medical tools at their disposal. This requirement often results in litigation when a device fails. The obvious question is ‘‘who is to blame?'' Consider the case of a woman undergoing a surgical procedure that requires the use of a ground plate, i.e., usually an 8-by-11-inch pad that serves as a return path for any electrical current that comes from electrosurgical devices used during the procedure. As a result of the procedure, this woman received a major burn that seriously destroyed tissue at the site of the ground plate.

(a) Discuss the possible individuals and/or organizations that may have been responsible for this injury.

(b) Outside of seeking the appropriate responsible party, are there specific ethical issues here?