Legals Of Health Care Essays

Legals Of Health Care Essays Legals Of Health Care Paper Legals Of Health Care Paper Medical Profession today is ‘accountable’ to the society. i. e. obliged to the laws regulating the professional activity. This ‘accountability’ is usually spelt out in â€Å"Patient Care Documents† established by hospital associations and medical associations or councils of every country (Suzanne, 2004). In addition, medical profession has defined its standards of accountability through a formal code of Ethics. Patient’s perceptions of health care, particularly disagreements and researches of various kinds with doctors have caught the attention of every one since 1980s. These disagreements have turned often into legal complaints (Ellen Annandale 1998). These disagreements turned legal complaints lead to long medical litigations. Rights for advance directives and doctrines such as informed consent have created a new approach to medical litigations. THE CASE STUDY The Case of 70 years old Mrs. Sparza, is classic case of a competent patient’s legal right in giving informed consent and advance directives. Informed consent refers to legal rules that prescribe behaviors for physicians in their interactions with patients based on the ethical doctrine rooted in the value of autonomy that facilitates patients right to self-determination. It is an interpersonal process whereby practitioners interact with patients to select an appropriate course of action. Informed consent means that tests, treatments and medications have been explained to the person, as well as outcomes, possible complications and alternative procedures before the treatment and this consent is documented. There is no second opinion on the fact that only a competent individual can give an informed consent. But the concept of competence is broad with moral, medical and legal implications. The case of Nancy Curzon (Suzanne, 2004) throws more light on the legal implications of most medical decisions. Nancy Curzon was a young woman involved in a car crash after which she remained in a persistent vegetative state in U. S. A. Inspite of a three year legal battle of her family members to have her feeding tube removed to let her die, The Supreme court ruled that ‘a state requires a ‘Clear and Convincing evidence’ of the patient’s wishes for withdrawal of life-support. This gave rise to the legislations, which encourage people to prepare advance directives in which they indicate their wishes concerning the treatment and care to be provided if they become incapacitated. Advance directives’ are legal documents that specify a patient’s wishes before hospitalization and provide the necessary information for tough decision-making situations. The Advance directive is usually composed of a Living will. A Living will is a medical directive issued by an individual with sound mind. This documents treatment preferences and provides instructions of care. This is often accompanied by a ‘Proxy directive’. Proxy directive is the appointment and authorization of another individual to make medical directives on behalf of the person who created an advanced directive when he/she is no longer able to speak for himself/herself. This is known as Health Care Power of Attorney or ‘Durable Power of Attorney’. The doctors and health care unit in this case are legally liable because; They have forced patient to give consent to be operated on both her eyes against her wishes and the doctors should have terminated her life as per the advance directive and durable power of attorney. It is worthy to mention that euthanasia and physician assisted death are permissible under law in the state of Oregon. Such medical disagreements turned legal complaints lead to long medical litigations. REFERENCE Ann J. Zwemer, â€Å"Professional Adjustments and Ethics for Nurses in India†. , 6th edn, B. 1 Publications, India, 1995. Annandale, E, â€Å"The malpractice crisis and the doctor-patient relationship† Sociology of Health and Illness 11:1-23, 1989. Annandale, E and Hunt, K â€Å"Accounts of Disagreements with doctors†, Social Science and Medicine 1:119-129, 1998. Brunner suddharth’s, Suzanne C. Smeltzer, Brenda. G, â€Å"Textbook of Medical Surgical Nursing†, 10th edn Lippincott U. S. A, 2004. Brennan, T, et. al, â€Å"Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients: the results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study†, New England Journal of Medicine 324: 370-76, 1991. Bosk, C, â€Å"Forgive and Remember: Managing medical failure†, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 1979.