Suppose I hand you a real gun. And suppose I’m a firearms expert. I assure you that the gun is safe, and you can aim it at someone and pull the trigger. You do so, and kill someone.
I’m surely at fault. But so are you. I handed you a real gun. The instant you accepted it, you had a duty to check it on your own. In a way, it’s like a nurse who is to give a powerful pill to Mr. A in room 200.
That nurse has a duty to check that it’s really Mr. A in room 200. But suppose she just gives the pill to whomever is in room 200. After all, it says Mr. A on the chart. And the patient is not Mr. A. The pill kills him.
In either situation, it’s not murder. But as I see it, it’s negligence to a level that deserves a criminal charge. Of course a jury will make the final call. So who knows?
“The instant you accepted it, you had a duty to check it on your own”
I would have done that. Maybe you are correct.
What do you think of Baldwin’s claim that he didn’t pull the trigger?
Not exactly a germane parallel. Not that doctors and nurses don’t make mistakes but any nurse worth their RN and not looking at a possible criminal charge of negligence would always ask the patient a medication is intended their date of birth.
That’s how any nurse would be assured they have the right patient.