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At least 973 records · Page 54Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Immunity from criminal prosecution for parents who withhold medically necessary treatment from children on religious grounds.

Because child endangerment laws and their judicial interpretation are different in each state, healthcare providers should familiarize themselves with the law in their particular jurisdiction. In situations in which parents refuse on religious grounds to consent to medical treatment for their children, health care providers should consult local counsel as to the legal options available.

Child↗
PubMed1999

An audit of the quality of operation notes in an otolaryngology unit.

Hand-written operation notes are often produced as evidence in medico-legal cases. Incomplete and illegible notes, along with the use of confusing abbreviations, are a common source of weakness in a surgeon's defence. An audit of 100 sets of operation notes was carried out in a single otolaryngology department. Notes were scrutinised for the accuracy of data, ward, department and name of surgeon, as well as for the inclusion of unacceptable abbreviations. Using an aide-memoire attached to the front of the operation sheet, the audit was repeated with identical criteria. The aide-memoire improved the standard of operation note with respect to all measured criteria. Clear identification of operating surgeon improved from 74% to 93%, and the avoidance of unacceptable abbreviations rose from 53% to 84%. We conclude that a simple aide-memoire attached to operation note sheets can significantly improve the quality of note-keeping and potentially avoid medico-legal problems.

Benchmarking↗
PubMed1992

Grievances and law suits against public mental health professionals: cost of doing business?

Although there has been an increase in risk of malpractice for all physicians, general psychiatrists continue to have a relatively low risk of being sued. With the change in the nature of involuntary patient populations as a result of dangerousness criteria for commitment, and the advent of an activist mental health bar, however, psychiatrists who work in the public sector are significantly more likely than private psychiatrists to face grievances and law suits. While specific data providing direct comparisons of numbers of lawsuits between private and public psychiatrists are not available, a review of the existing literature supports this hypothesis, particularly with respect to grievances. The author suggests reasons for the increased risk of legal challenges faced by psychiatrists working with committed patients, and discusses various strategies for preparing ward staff as well as professional staff to reduce the risk of being challenged as well as the chance of losing grievances and law suits. While the article focuses on psychiatrists, most of its arguments are equally applicable to other mental health professionals, whose risk of being legally challenged is escalating rapidly.

Hospitals, Psychiatric↗
PubMed1990

Unfinished feticide.

A fetus may survive an intentional interference with its intrauterine environment (1) if gestational age is mistaken and the procedure of induced abortion does not kill the fetus, (2) if a change of heart takes place after abortifacient drugs are taken and the abortion does not proceed, and (3) if a high-multiple pregnancy is reduced to a singleton or a twin pregnancy to improve the likelihood that the remaining fetuses will reach viability. In each case, through cause or coincidence, an abnormal baby may be born. The well-intentioned physician, responding to a patient's medical or psychological needs, risks a legal action in negligence or assault brought by a deformed surviving child. This hazard means that medical termination of pregnancy and selective pregnancy reduction put the practising physician at substantial risk in a way not usually associated with induced abortion.

Abortion, Eugenic↗
PubMed2006

Fault-lines in community treatment order legislation.

This article discusses the major tension points in the legislation that authorises involuntary outpatient treatment for mental disorder in six British Commonwealth jurisdictions. Particular attention is paid to the role of competence (or capacity) principles in the ruling legal criteria, to the precise powers of community treatment conferred, and to the potential impact of the legislation on clinicians' liability concerns. It is argued that the conferral on clinicians of a power to administer 'forced medication' in community settings is not required to promote active use of involuntary outpatient care, and that such a power should not be provided. The article concludes with discussion of the reasons why community treatment orders are used more frequently in some jurisdictions than others.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Conscience clauses offer little protection. Most are deficient, and many have been met with hostile judicial interpretations.

Although the federal government and most states have enacted laws protecting healthcare providers' rights to refuse to provide or participate in procedures to which they have moral or religious objections, most such laws are deficient and many have been met with hostile judicial interpretations that have diminished their scope and strength. Deficiencies found in nearly all conscience clause laws include limitations on the specific conduct or procedures protected, restrictive definitions of the healthcare providers covered, and inadequate implementing procedures and remedies. Most conscience clause statutes fail to provide more than token protection for healthcare providers' rights of conscience. Increasing duress on healthcare providers who assert rights of conscience can be expected from three sources. First, some medical schools have considered refusal to participate as a negative factor in the admission process. Second, greater financial pressures on the American healthcare system may cause nonmonetary factors to be sacrificed to the exigencies of the moment. Third, all healthcare reform plans propose an increase in the federal government's role in providing healthcare. At present, the only federal statutory protection for healthcare providers' rights of conscience covers participants in only a few federal programs, is poorly conceived, and is sorely inadequate.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1998

The hospital doctor in legislation and medical deontology: tension between profession and institution.

1. Every health policy should make clear the organization of its offer of care; also, more particularly, the role of the individual professionals and their groups, as well as the role of the services and institutions, all within the chosen private, public or mixed framework. 2. Both in public law and in private law as well as in deontology, clear rules will have to be formulated concerning the relationship of doctor-patient and institution-patient; therefore also concerning the relationship of hospital-doctor. 3. It is evident that the lack of clarity frequently encountered in the Belgian and many other national legal systems with respect to these matters is unfortunately also reflected in international health law. 4. The issue of the legal relationships in the patient-doctor-hospital triangle should no longer be delayed until the catastrophic moment when medical liability should be considered. 5. Can we indeed speak of integral quality of a hospital, when it is anything but clear whether it concerns a single integrated enterprise or a roof under which two or more enterprises or entrepreneurs organize their own separate services to the clients? 6. Although the decision is a societal matter, the organisations of institutions and professionals should (continue to) play an important role in the preparation of this debate, which must bring the necessary clarity to the present relations and preferably also about the future options with respect to these relations. 7. A fundamental question, which remains to be solved for the future health policy, appears to be whether hospitals can be integrated institutions and, in the affirmative, whether they should be so. 8. The law, with priority to deontology, should formulate basic rules to clarify all possibilities in the patient-hospital-doctor triangle relationship--which is evolving into a polygon through fusion and group practices--and especially to trace out the consequences of health policy options with regard to the integrated hospital formula, also for patients, and to enhance its chances of success. 9. Will the professionals succeed in convincing the hospital responsibles that the integrated hospital itself is already a far too traditional construction to offer a valuable answer to the future needs of the patients?

Belgium↗
PubMed2001

When the fine print isn't so fine: reviewing contracts of health plan service providers.

Most employers delegate responsibilities for health plan administration to one or more service providers or vendors. Recent legal developments make it increasingly important for employers to ensure that the contracts with their vendors provide appropriate protections against liability, hold vendors accountable for performing the services they agree to provide and enable plans to comply with an ever-expanding list of federal and state law requirements.

Contract Services↗
PubMed1997

Jurors rate RNs. Counting the costs.

To gain a perspective on how the public views nurses' legal accountability, a group of jurors was surveyed. This study examines the conditions that RNs face, as well as their liability under these conditions.

Attitude to Health↗