Health Care Law and Ethics - Essay Example

Health Care Law and Ethics HEALTH CARE LAW AND ETHICS Introduction Health care is a profession that requires great care and attention as required by the health care ethics. However, the health care professionals are governed by the health care law that governs their work and also their duties. Health care is one of the professions that require one to be careful and have compassion to the patients as he or she deals with many people from different backgrounds and races. There are various ethics that govern medical practitioners and staff in general. Though, some countries have different laws governing their health care, there are general laws that medical personnel should have and put in practice as required by the medical ethic. The paper discusses the legal duties of hospitals, liability issues, and also legal responsibility of the hospital governance. Legal duties of hospitals Corporate negligence The hospital has duties that it owes to the patients as well as the general public. These responsibilities are obtained from the regulations as well as principle of law that are developed by the court system. The duties are also governed by the internal rules of the organization. This means that in case a corporate fails to honor its duty as per the law, it also carry the liability of the injured party (Westlaw, 2015).. Corporate negligence is a policy that requires hospitals to be liable in case it does not exercise its duty of care to the patients that involves patient safety as well as their well-being in the hospital (Hall et al. 2003). Therefore, corporate negligence happens in the event a hospital fails to do the duties that it owes to the patients and the general public. In the event, the duty is breached and the patient is injured due to that breach, the organization will be responsible for that mess (Hall et al. 2003). Liability is also extended to the nonemployees who work in the hospitals to offer care to the patients. Duty to care The physician in the health care has a duty to provide care to the patient and failure to perform that duty he can be taken to court for legal measures (Picard, 1996). For example, in U.S a person is not required to assist any injured person without a defined relationship such as doctor-patient. In the event, a doctor is at a market and assists a person suffering from heart attack, he will be liable for any injury that the person might have during the assistance. Therefore, the duty to care is established after the doctor-patient relationship has been established and thus the patient can be treated and cared by the doctor. The physician should provide care in respect to the skills she has in her area of specialization. The physician is required to make use of the skills and medical facilities available to provide the necessary care to the patient. Informed consent The health care professionals have the duty to seek consent from the patient for the purpose of conducting diagnosis, treatment, and may be doing organ transplant. However, they also have to inform the patient in the event they want to disclose his or her medical records or research purposes. In case of dead as a result of pathological post mortem or organ transplant, it vital to obtain informed consent of the patient. The consent can be given through oral or writing, implied consent, tacit consent or advance consent. This duty of obtaining consent makes the patient feels valued by the health professional and thus his or her decision is important in seeking treatment. Timely treatment The health care organizations are expected to offer treatment at the right time and avoid delays in providing the treatment. The delays in providing treatment can result in injuries of the patient and thus all the hospitals have the duty to offer timely treatment to their patient. In case the timely treatment is not given, the patient can sue the health care organization for failing to give the right attendance. There are many cases whereby people have sued hospitals because of delays in treatment that sometimes the court requires the hospitals to pay for the damages. Timey treatment is very crucial especially for emergency cases such as accidents that require immediate attention. Duty to select and retain competent physicians It is a responsibility of the health care organizations to ensure that they recruit qualified medical personnel and retain the competent physicians. The health care system is a very sensitive profession that involves dealing with people’s life and thus the patient should be attended by competent physicians to avoid injuries and other complications that may result from incompetent attendance. Duty to formulate and enforce health care rules Hospitals owe the patient the duty to formulate and enforce rules that ensure quality care is given to the patient and every health staff performs his or her duty professionally. The duties may pertain health care delivery, patient care and also treatment of the patients. Liability issues concerning contractual physicians (independent contractor) The relationship of an independent contractor occurs when the person has no influence on the manner in which the agent works. In this case, the independent contractor is responsible for his or her negligence. Though, in some cases the organization may become liable for the negligence of the independent contractor (Pozgar & Santucci, 1996). For example, the court found that the hospital may be liable in the case of Mehlman v. Powell maintaining that the physician was not a worker in the hospital, but was part of the Department of emergency as an independent contractor. According to the court, the hospital had control over the billing measures and operated an emergency department and informed the patients that the emergency team was its employees that led to the patients to depend on their skills (Pozgar, 2005). In this case, the hospital was liable for the acts of the independent contractor working in the emergency department. Legal responsibility of hospital governance Operating a health care organization requires members to work in a team. Therefore, it is essential for all the members in the medical staff and the board to comprehend the function of governance. The bad governance often limits the capability of the management to accomplish its operations while effective governance help the organization in its functions. There are various legal responsibilities of the hospital governance such as policy making. Policy making is an important part of the governance as it defines the responsibilities of the members in the board, management, and also in the medical staff. The board can formulate the policies and leave the management to implement those policies. The board policies should be reviewed regularly and adjusted accordingly (Westlaw, 2013). Decision making is another duty of the governance that involves choices pertaining the organization’s strategies and also mission (Arnwine, 2002). Therefore, the board makes strategic decisions such as whether to enter into an agreement with another organization. However, the board can also delegate some of the decisions to others in the organization. Hospitals require informed decisions making that influence the operation of the hospital and enable smooth running of the organization. The other function is oversight whereby the board of governance oversees the functions of the organization and not to manage. In this level, the board becomes liable for anything that happens in the hospital departments. For example, concerning the quality, the board may conduct oversight role by formulating various policies in respect to quality and show their commitment to quality. Conclusion The health care system is crucial part of our livelihoods as we cannot live without hospital to check our health status and treat various illnesses. The hospitals have legal duties to perform to their patients such as providing care, corporate negligence, timely treatment, seeking patient consent, and also selecting qualified and competent physicians. These duties are mandatory to the hospitals and thus any violation may lead to prosecution in the court. However, hospitals may be liable for the independent contractors working in their facilities in the event of negligence of the independent contractor. Lastly, the hospital governance has several responsibilities to perform in the hospital governance such as making decisions, making policies, and also conducting oversight. The board of governors performs those functions and is liable to anything that may happen in the hospital. References Arnwine, D. L. (2002). Effective governance: the roles and responsibilities of board members. Baylor University. Medical Center, 15, 1, 19-22. Grant, P. D. M., & Ballard, D. C. (2013). Fast facts about nursing and the law: Law for nurses in a nutshell. USA: Springer Publishing Company. Hall, M. A., Bobinski, M. A., & Orentlicher, D. (2003). Health care law and ethics. New York: Aspen Publishers. Picard EI, Robertson GB. 1996. Legal liability of doctors and hospitals in Canada. 3rd ed. Canada: Thomson Carswell. Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. M. (1996). Legal aspects of health care administration. Gaithersburg, Md: Aspen Publishers. Pozgar, G. D. (2005). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Sanbar, S. S., & American College of Legal Medicine. (2004). Legal medicine. St. Louis: Mosby. Westlaw. (2015). Hospital Responsibility. Corporate Negligence. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved on 10th October from https://govt.westlaw.com/wciji/Document/I2c8ca467e10d11dab058a118868d70a9?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=%28sc.Default%29 Westlaw. (2013). Negligence Hospital. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved on 10th October from https://govt.westlaw.com/wciji/Document/I2c8ca467e10d11dab058a118868d70a9?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default) Read More