Laws Affecting Health Care - Research Paper Example

? Laws Affecting Health Care Task There are several laws that affect the health care professionals and these laws are such as tort law, criminal law, and contract law. The law that affects the legal professionals most directly is contract law. A contract is an agreement that parties enter into and in this case, it is an agreement between a patient and a health professional. Several issues that arise out of a contract are going to be discussed. Further, we will look at the impact which contract law has on the legal profession. Finally, we shall have a study of how the law and ethical issues operate together. A contract takes the form of an agreement that can be written or oral. The agreement has binding obligations that should be upheld by both parties. A contract thereby draws down the limits and creates an enforceable agreement. For a contract to be legally enforceable, it must contain an offer, consideration and an acceptance (Pozgar, Santucci, 2010, pp. 197). The parties should be made aware of the offer for them to be able to consider it and finally make an acceptance. Once there is an acceptance, a contract is usually formed but without an acceptance, there can be no contract. This is where the problem arises. Contracts exist in several forms. There are employment contracts whereby an employer is able to terminate the contract of an employee if he has justified reasons to do so but in this case, we find that there is a collective bargaining agreement that limits the right of an employer to terminate that of an employee. There are also exclusive contracts. These are the kinds of contracts that an organization enters into with medical groups and physicians so that they can be able to provide a particular service. An example of such a contract is the Tennessee code (Pozgar & Santucci, 2010, pp. 198) which greatly affected the staff of the imaging department when the governing body decided that it would close down the imaging the department staff. In the end, the radiologists had their privileges terminated without any form of hearing. The other form of contract is the commercial and the non-competitive agreement that is meant to prohibit unfair competition while also protecting the employer’s interests. In such contracts, the hospital is mainly aimed at protecting their patients so that they can protect the revenue from their patients. Such contracts are at times very strict as their terms could provide very harsh requirements that provide that an employee after a terminating an employment contract with the hospital will not be allowed to work within a certain mile radius with the former hospital that he was working in unless there is an express consent from the former hospital that he or she was working in. This affects legal professionals, as they are not able to find employments in certain hospitals. This is exemplified by the case of Washington County Memorial Hospital .vs. Sidebottom. The case involved a nurse who entered into an employment agreement with the Washington County Memorial Hospital. The employment agreement had a clause in it which provided that for a period of one year from the time of her termination, the nurse was not allowed to involve herself in any nursing practices anywhere within a fifty mile radius unless with the consent of the hospital. The hospital declared that it would no longer need the services of the nurse if the services that she provided could later on be provided the hospital. The nurse further entered into another agreement in 1998 but it lacked the competition clause with an automatic renewal of two years unless her employment was terminated (Pozgar, Santucci, 2010, pp. 200). Such collective agreements are meant to protect the revenue of the organization by protecting their patient base. What a person should be capable to establish is that the employee can be able to influence the patients in the organization. This then makes the agreement enforceable. Ethics is seen as a reflection of morality (Purtilo, 2009, pp. 49).Ethics is the right thing to do. How then does the law and ethical discussions work together? Ethics and the law work together in balancing competing interests. Law and ethics guide the actions of individuals separately. Ethical and legal issues come about due to opposing interests in the health profession. An organization usually has a code of ethics that will help in carrying its vision and reduce misconduct. These codes of ethics of a specific organization are then also to be regulated by the state. This shows how the ethics and the law can be able to work together. An example that can be shown is in the establishment of the Office of Government Ethics. The office is tasked with resolving issues that arise out of conflicts of interests and to promote high ethical standards. The law and ethics is also used to ensure that there is no form of malpractices (Pozgar, 2009, pp. 33). The law provides for patient’s rights e.g. the right to medical care. Ethics on the other hand encourages members of the health profession to administer their services in a way that ensures quality treatment of patients in a particular organization. Ethics promotes the standards of treatment. The law can be used as an effective tool in ensuring the improvement of health standards. Law intervenes at various levels. We see that the law is aimed at intervening individually through health care campaigns and collectively through incentives and deterrence. The law also makes it a requirement that safety standards are upheld by regulating the behavior of agents. Ethics has coalesced with the law by increasing the moral trust that the public has upon on public health. This in essence promotes a culture of professionalism in the health practitioners thereby instilling in them a duty. This is the duty to uphold the public trust. This duty is upheld when health practitioners engage in ethical activities (Ahearn, Langstone, Unger, 2004, pp. 19). Ethics helps medical practitioners to engage only in those activities that are virtuous. When ethics is applied, it enforces the law to some level. We do know that not every legal act is considered ethical but ethics can uphold the legal requirements of the health profession. It can be considered ethical to preserve someone’s life and assist anyone who is sick while the law also provides the right to health. The society sees it ethical to take a sick person to hospital for medical care while the law makes it a requirement for the society to seek health care. This is an instance whereby the law and ethics work together. Ethics and the law therefore are seen to work together to ensure that standards of treatment and the quality of services are upheld though not in every circumstance. References Ahearn Dan, Langstone, Dana & Katie Unger, (2004) Health Care Law: A Career Guide, (PP.18- 32) President and Fellows of Harvard College. Retrieved on 19 December from George D. Pozgar, Nina Santucci, John W. Pinnella (2010), Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals, (2nd Edition, PP.197-211), Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Pozgar George, Legal Essentials of Healthcare Administration, (2007, P.8) Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved on 19 December from < http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/careers/opia/planning/career-resources/docs/guide-health-law.pdf> Purtilo Ruth, The Ethical Life of Rural Health Care Professionals, (2009, P.30-49) University Press of New England. Retrieved on 19 December from < http://dms.dartmouth.edu/cfm/resources/ethics/chapter-03.pdf> Read More