Component 1: Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the US Unit 6: Regulating Health Care Lecture c: Medicine, Professional Liability, and Medical.

Component 1: Introduction to Health Care and Public Health

in the US

Unit 6: Regulating Health CareLecture c: Medicine, Professional Liability, and Medical Malpractice

Objectives

• Describe medical law

• Discuss what is meant by standard of care

• Define statute of limitations

• Describe the Good Samaritan Laws

Component 1/Unit 6c 2Health IT Workforce Curriculum Version 1.0/Fall 2010

The Law and Medicine

• Medical Practice Acts– Every state has a law that describes how

medicine will be practiced within the state. – This Act usually establishes the medical

board for the state and protects the health and safety of the public.

– This board establishes the licensure standards, credentials, and sanction processes and procedures, as well as define unprofessional conduct


The Law and Medicine (continued)

• Some examples as how the law relates to medicine– Tort law- (intentional) a patient can sue a

physician for medical or physical injury caused by the physician or the physician’s employee

– Battery (unlawful touching)- no procedure can be performed without a patient’s consent: offering an arm to a phlebotomist to allow a blood draw is implied consent.



– Fraud can be committed by a physician with fraudulent billing practices—especially Medicare and Medicaid. This would be treating a patient for one disease and billing for a more expensive disease treatment.

• Unintentional tort– A patient is injured as a result of health care

professional not performing at the accepted standard of care.



– Negligence-• The failure or omission to perform professional

duties to the accepted standard of care or without adequate training.

– Malpractice-• Professional misconduct or practicing medicine

with an unreasonable lack of skill



• Standard of Care– Refers to the reasonable skill and care that

medical practitioners such as physicians, nurses, physician assistants, medical assistants, and phlebotomists must use according to their licensure and certification

• Scope of Practice– Scope of duties that a health care

professional is allowed to perform



• 8 principles for health care professionals to live by– Beneficence-

• Helping others and engaging in activities that would benefit another

– Fidelity-• Loyalty and faithfulness to others. • Implies that we will do what we are supposed to do



• Sanctity of life– Hold human life sacred

• Integrity– Living by one’s principles, no matter what

happens

• Honesty-– Truthfulness in any situation



• Empathy– To understand a person’s feelings, even

though one has never experienced another’s pain or anguish

• Sympathy– Feeling sorry for a person

• Compassion– Gentle, caring attitude towards all



• Prudent person rule- – A health care professional must give

information to a patient that a reasonable person would desire before making a decision about diagnosis, risks and consequences of treatment, expected benefits, alternative treatments, prognosis with no treatment, and costs including the amount of expect pain


Professional Liability and Medical Malpractice

• Medical malpractice– Professional misconduct or demonstrating an

unreasonable lack of skill resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the patient

• Fraud– Intentional concealment of the facts from

another person for an unlawful or unfair gain



(continued)• The tort of negligence

– Malficence- doing evil by performing wrong or illegal act

– Misficence- improper performance of an otherwise proper or lawful act

– Nonficence- failure to perform a necessary action



(continued)• Negligence is based on the 4 D’s:

– Duty– Dereliction of duty– Direct or proximate cause– Damages



(continued)• Statute of Limitations

– The period of time that a patient has to file a lawsuit

– The court will not hear a case after that time limit has expired.

– The clock starts running after the problem is discovered or should have been discovered.

– This law varies by state



(continued)• Good Samaritan laws

– State laws that protect the liability of a health care professional when providing emergency care to a victim

– These laws do not protect the liability of a health care professional at work.

– These laws are to encourage health care professionals to help victims during emergencies


Professional Liability

• Duty– Responsibilities established by the physician-

patient relationship

• Duty of due care– Every healthcare professional owes a duty to

act as a reasonable, prudent person with average intelligence would under the same or similar circumstances


Professional Liability (continued)

– A health care professional is held to the standard of care as exercised by similar health care professionals in the same or similar community or geographic region.

– This standard never varies for a particular profession—physicians are compared with physicians, nurses compared with nurses, etc.


Professional Liability (continued)

• Proximate cause-– There is a cause and effect relationship

between the action of the health care provider and the injury to the patient


Office of the Inspector General

• This office was created by the US Department of Health and Human Services to – Provide legal services to DHS– Represents the federal government in civil

cases– Imposes monetary penalties on health care

providers found guilty of fraud– Issues fraud alerts


Component 1: Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the US Unit 6: Regulating Health Care Lecture c: Medicine, Professional Liability, and Medical.

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