INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH SCIENCE LAW AND ETHICS

MEDICAL LAW Medical law is the branch of law which concerns the rights and responsibilities of medical professionals and the rights of the patient. The main branches of medical law are the law on confidentiality, negligence, and torts in relation to medical treatment (medical malpractice), and criminal law in the field of medical practice and treatment.

MEDICAL ETHICS Medical ethics is a field of applied ethics that applies to the field of medicine and health care. Concern about medical ethics goes back in the History of Medicine with the work of Hippocrates.

SCOPE OF PRACTICE Scope of practice is used for health care professions that defines the procedures, actions, and processes that are permitted for the licensed individual. The scope of practice is limited to that which the law allows for specific education and experience, and specific demonstrated competency.

BATTERY The actual physical harm or unwarranted touching of another person. If a medical procedure is done on a patient without getting permission, it may be considered battery.

INVASION OF PRIVACY This is the right to be left alone and to not have your information become public. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 addresses the security and privacy of health data.

INVASION OF PRIVACY Invasion of Privacy also involves maintaining a person’s modesty during care. Hospital gowns are usually open in the back which may unnecessarily expose the patient when they are walking or laying in bed. Care must be taken to make sure the patient is appropriately covered.

NEGLIGENCE Negligence if the failure to do something that a prudent person would ordinarily do OR not doing something you have been trained to do. Example: Giving the wrong medication to the wrong patient because the nurse did not check the patient’s wrist band

MALPRACTICE Malpractice is professional negligence. Malpractice literally means “bad practice.” It has come to mean professional care that has led to injury due to faulty practice or neglect.

CONSENT Consent to treat is required from every conscious, mentally competent adult before care can begin. Three types of consent: Expressed Implied Informed

EXPRESSED CONSENT The patient expressly authorizes the health care provider to provide care or transport. Patient must be informed of the steps of the procedures and all related risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment. Patient must be of legal age and able to make a rational decision to give consent.

IMPLIED CONSENT Consent assumed from the unconscious patient requiring emergency intervention. Based on the assumption that the unconscious patient would consent to lifesaving interventions.

INFORMED CONSENT Telling the patient what medical procedure will be performed, the expected outcome, and the possible complications.

IMPACT LAWS OF HEALTH CARE Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) did not seem to make much of an impact on the average citizen, until the spring of 2003 when those seeking treatment had to sign forms at every health care facility and office indicating they had read about the new confidentiality practices.

HIPAA What is HIPAA? In order to update and streamline the insurance reimbursement process, HIPAA was created. There was also increasing concern about the easy access to medical records and private information since most of them are found in electronic formats. Congress included national standards and mandates in HIPAA for “electronic health care transactions, codes, identifiers, and security.”

HIPAA HIPAA set a time line for implementation of confidentiality guidelines to safeguard medical records and individual medical information. HIPAA helps to protect the use of medical information that can be traced back to an individual. HIPAA allows patients easier access to their personal medical records while limiting access to records by other institutions.

HIPAA Confidential information is privileged communication which should only be given out on a need-to-know basis. This means information should ONLY be shared with those who are involved in the direct care of the individual patient.

HIPAA It is important to avoid elevator or cafeteria chatter where patient information may be heard by those not affiliated direct patient care. This includes all medical information of every patient. Maintenance of confidentiality helps to promote trust between the patient and the health care community.

HIPAA There is certain health care information that can be publically disclosed. Some incidents need to be reported to the county and state health departments including Births Deaths Cancers Traffic accidents involving the use of drugs or alcohol Communicable diseases -AIDS-Tuberculosis -Hepatitis-West Nile Virus -Sexually Transmitted Diseases-SARS

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF MEDICINE Here is a list some of the current bioethical dilemmas. There are many and you probably know of other issues that are not on this list. What do you think? Why? What experiences in your life have helped shaped the way you think and feel? You may need to do more research in order to make an informed decision. Feel free to discuss these issues and your ideas with your parents or guardians

Should we perform medical tests, like blood tests, to determine whether or not a person should be eligible for health insurance? Should we perform genetic tests to rule out coverage for certain diseases? (For example, if you are a women with the breast cancer gene, should your insurance policy exclude coverage for you if you should be diagnosed with breast cancer?. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF MEDICINE

– Should insurance companies terminate the policies of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS? – Should we put fluorine in the water since we know that fluorine decreases dental decay? ETHICAL ASPECTS OF MEDICINE