Which statement best defines proximate cause?

• A. A reasonable cause-and-effect relationship can be shown between the omission or commission of the nursing act and the harm to the patient.
• B. A direct causation that is always obvious.
• C. An assessment of patient satisfaction.
• D. A financial liability standard.

Answer: (A)

Proximate cause is the legally sufficient link between a nurse’s breach of duty and the patient’s injury. It focuses on whether the harm was a foreseeable consequence of the nurse’s action or inaction. The best statement captures this by saying there is a reasonable cause-and-effect relationship between the nursing act (or omission) and the harm to the patient. Liability hinges on that connection being something a reasonable person would anticipate as a likely result of the nurse’s conduct, not requiring the harm to be the only cause or immediately obvious. The other options miss this link: deterioration into a simple, always-obvious direct causation is not required; patient satisfaction is unrelated to causation; and a financial liability standard concerns damages, not whether the harm was proximately caused by the nurse’s conduct.