UNIT 1 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - Essay Example

Health Care Law Law is the term used to generally describe sets of rules, regulations, standards and consequences used by society toimpart justice. Justice is often thought of as a sense of fairness, or equality of human rights. Though the United States is said to have the fairest system of justice in the world, there are frequently cases deemed as miscarriages of justice, by one or more groups of citizens. Often legislation that is designed to provide equal access lacks resources at various state or regional levels to carry out its purpose.

Oversight to insure that legislation is put into practice can be sporadic. These factors are among many others that explain why law is not an exact science. Those who are hired and elected to uphold the law possess their own views which can and do affect their own interpretation of the law and how they carry out their duties. Just as judges, legislators, police and others working to uphold the law can be biased, as can health care workers. Though OBRA89 was enacted in 1984 to include more children and pregnant women in the Medicaid program (Flint, 2006), this served to create more disparity in health care access.

A comprehensive report by the Institute of Medicine in 2002 identifies health care worker bias as one of two major contributing factors in health care disparities (Watts, 2003). Specific prejudices include provider assumption of Medicaid patients in general to be less intelligent and more prone to substance abuse. Such attitudes create situations where patients are denied basic medical rights such as life support and pain medication, as they are deemed unworthy or undeserving. While law dictates that all patients be given equal and proper medical care, it is difficult in most situations, to determine if prejudice and subsequent malicious intent are the cause, as opposed to general overburden of a system.

Practices in health care that are considered unlawful include use of excessive force, overmedicating, withholding medication, failure to provide adequate Health Care Law 2 nutrition, selling prescriptions or any other act that causes further injury or general decline in health as a result of the action(Arkansas Attorney General). Most patient abuse within the health care system targets the elderly, though many other cases of abuse by physicians and other staff occur in hospitals and clinics.

Many health care institutions have ethics committees, though they typically do not address ethical issues until a problem arises with a specific employee or department. Health care worker attitudes and views surrounding ethical issues can change over time for a number of reasons. Exposure to other workers with specific bias and prejudice, overwork, cultural influence and unethical treatment by employers are a few of the reasons change occurs. While changes in ethical views do not necessarily indicate that the health care worker will cause injury to or deny care to a patient; extremely negative views or prejudice can distort judgment, leading to disregard of actual law over a period of time.

Though most health care workers are taught ethics and law during their training, many are not exposed to such subjects again in their careers. Many businesses today realize that lack of cultural sensitivity and attitudes of prejudice can greatly affect public view, and therefore, overall corporate health. Organizations now provide training in sensitivity and awareness that is required by most employees. Rosalyn Watts suggests such programs are necessary for health care institutions as well, to provide care equally without consideration of race, gender or socio-economic status, and to prevent not only unethical treatment, but attitudes and behaviors that may lead to outright unlawful and abusive treatment.

References Arkansas State Attorney. Retrieved October 3, 2006 from http://www.ag.state.ar.us/ Med_fraud/abuseneglect.htm. Flint, S. (2006, February). Ensuring Equal Access for Medicaid Children. Health and Social Work, 31, 65. Watts, R.(2003, January 31). Race Consciousness and the Health of African Americans. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 8,1,3. Retrieved October 3, 2006 From http://nursingworld.org/ojin/topic20/tpc20_3.htm.