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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Blood transfusions, HIV and legal liability in South Africa.

This article deals with the legislation, regulations and clinical guidelines regulating blood transfusions in South Africa. Although these are aimed at protecting both the recipients and donors of blood, the risk of HIV infected blood being donated and transfused is on the increase, due to inter alia, the high prevalence of HIV infection among the South African population. The article discusses, in the absence of strict liability in South Africa, the possible legal liability of blood services, medical practitioners, the Department of Health, and the blood donor when a recipient of blood is infected. The need for informed consent by both the recipient and the donor is also discussed, as well as the legal repercussions where informed consent is lacking.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed2004

[The influence of medical standards, medical guidelines and economic restrictions on the standard of legal liability].

First we will have to identify the components determining the standard for medical liability in civil law cases. The civil courts have so far uniformly regarded the medical standard defined by physicians themselves as the standard of legal liability. Medical standards are based on scientific knowledge, practical experience and professional acceptance. Clinical guidelines can but need not necessarily reflect medical standards. Moreover, they cannot establish a standard. Second, on this basis the question will be whether economic restrictions should be allowed to alter the standard of legal liability. The answer depends, namely on what is meant by economic restrictions--rationalising or rationing? Rationalising need not be inconsistent with the standard. There are contradicting opinions in the legal literature about whether rationing is considered permissible. With regard to our social insurance system some authors point out that the highest possible standard is established by the statutory health insurance. With reference to the civil law, though, others demand that the medical standard must be given top priority. In accordance with the latter opinion rationing is only permitted in cases of a natural shortage of resources. Shortage of economic resources must not influence the standard of legal liability.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1995

Legal liability under managed care.

Market forces are driving the delivery of health care into managed care. New alignments among health care providers, payers, utilization reviewers and hospitals create new legal liability. Better-informed patients, concurrent credentialing by hospitals and payers, and new incentives to reduce hospital and physician-related costs have resulted in new federal legislation and agencies that reshape health care delivery and legal liability.

Hawaii↗
PubMed1991

The legal liability of doctors and hospitals for medical malpractice.

A broad overview of the fundamental principles relating to legal liability for medical malpractice is presented. The issues expounded, discussed and illustrated are the nature and consequences of the relationship between doctor/hospital and patient, effective consent as a requisite of lawful medical interventions, emergency treatment, medical negligence and the vicarious liability of doctors/hospitals for the negligence of others.

Hospitals↗
PubMed1990

Impact of legal liability, family wishes, and other "external factors" on physicians' life-support decisions.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of external factors on physicians' life-support decisions. "External factors" are those factors that promote the interests of people other than the patient. Examples of external factors include physician legal liability and family wishes about patient care. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A nationwide sample consisted of 300 randomly selected physician-members from the American Society of Law and Medicine (ASLM) and 300 from the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM); 179 ASLM physicians (60%) and 165 SCCM physicians (55%) responded. A mailed questionnaire presented three cases, each requiring the physician to make a life-support decision. For each case, the physician chose one of several life-support options and rated the importance to his or her decision of specific "decision factors," including some external factors. We assumed the physician would choose the management option supported by the decision factors that the physician considered most important. For this reason, we used discriminant analysis to identify the factors whose importance ratings best predicted management choices. RESULTS: In the first case, 46% of ASLM respondents and 55% of SCCM respondents chose to stop the ventilator of a chronically comatose patient with unknown preferences about life support. Thirty-one percent of ASLM and 27% of SCCM respondents chose to continue the ventilator, and 21% of ASLM and 14% of SCCM respondents chose to apply for a judicial decision. Importance ratings for the external factor, physician legal liability, best predicted management choices. In the second case, 95% of ASLM and 94% of SCCM respondents chose to resuscitate a cancer patient at the patient's request; 3% of ASLM and 4% of SCCM respondents chose no resuscitation. Importance ratings for patient preferences best predicted management choices. In the third case, 38% of ASLM and 35% of SCCM respondents honored a stroke patient's previous refusal of tube feedings, but 59% of ASLM and 62% of SCCM respondents authorized tube feedings in order to secure nursing home placement. Importance ratings for patient preferences best predicted management choices in this case. External factors impacted management choices considerably in the first case and more modestly in the second and third cases. CONCLUSION: External factors impact the life-support decisions of physicians. Physician legal liability may have an especially great impact on these decisions when patients' preferences are not known.

Decision Making↗
PubMed2002

The legal liability regime: how well is it doing in assuring quality, accounting for costs, and coping with an evolving reality in the health care marketplace?

Professor Blumstein's timely article deals with two competing paradigms that provide the poles in the spectrum of legal liability regimes. The "professional" or "scientific" model of liability assumes a rigidly normative approach to medical practice while the second more recent paradigm reflects the principles of marketplace economics in considering cost and resource availability to determine quality of care standards. Professor Blumstein concludes that the traditional approach to determining legal liability is being eroded by both the economics of managed care and the recent emphasis on systemic management of health care to promote patient safety, and that the traditional regime will have to "bend" in order to remain legally viable.

Cost Control↗
PubMed2001

Physicians, firearm counseling, and legal liability.

To explore the potential legal consequences to physicians of counseling their patients about gun violence, I consider the question: If a patient divests herself of a firearm upon the advice of her physician and is subsequently the victim of a rape, robbery, aggravated assault, or homicide, could she or her survivors argue convincingly that her physician was negligent? In attempting to answer this question, the four elements that a patient must establish to prevail in a malpractice action against a physician are discussed, and possible strategies for establishing them in the hypothetical case are explored. I conclude that plausible arguments can be made against the hypothetical physician engaged in firearm counseling as described. Conversely, physicians not engaging in discussions of gun safety face substantially lower liability risks.

Counseling↗
PubMed1991

GPOs and their product evaluation committees should be aware of their legal liabilities.

A materials manager for a large group purchasing organization is a member of a committee involved in the decision as to which products and equipment are purchased for and used by the hospitals belonging to the GPO. These decisions are based upon requests from the member hospitals and proposals submitted to the GPO by suppliers. After review by the committee, a decision to buy is made. In this dialogue, Dr. Decker discusses the issues of legal liability assumed by the GPO, the committee and its individual members in making these decisions on which to buy.

Consumer Product Safety↗
PubMed1998

Legal liability and workplace violence.

Workplace violence is a growing social problem. Some of this growth may be perceptual, reflecting our new awareness of what constitutes violence in the workplace. Furthermore, much of what falls under its current rubric does not correspond to the classic image of worker-on-worker or worker-on-employer mayhem. Nevertheless, the total number of incidents is alarmingly large; the problem is real. It is natural to consider law (i.e., legal liability) as a potential solution. Aiming the liability threat at the employer may be the most effective and efficient strategy. There are ample theories to choose from: negligence (tort) law, agency law, contract, civil rights, and regulatory law. Judges and juries appear eager to hold employers accountable for violent incidents in the workplace, sometimes in the face of other, more logical constructions of the facts or theory. One's best hope is that the fear this strikes in the hearts of employers will make for maximum preventive results.

California↗
PubMed1986

Legal liability of students and residents in the health care setting.

Legal liability of students and residents in the health care setting can have significant consequences for clinical faculty members, the health care facility, and the educational institution. Parties involved in educating students and residents in the health professions, therefore, should have a clear understanding of potential liabilities and well defined procedures to minimize such risks. In this article, the author examines issues and significant court cases related to the liability of students and residents in the health care setting.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed1997

Confidentiality, disseminated regulation and ethico-legal liabilities in research with hidden populations of illicit drug users.

An assurance of confidentiality is at the core of trusting relationships in outreach, ethnographic research and patient/client encounters. In the past, centralized State health care services have provided assurances of confidentiality to those engaged in health-related research either through common law or by statute. However, unless specific confidentiality legislation is in place, no assurances of confidentiality can now be made to research subjects involved in either longitudinal, interview-based or ethnographic research. The consequences of this situation become more serious given the recent emergence of the use of peer and community outreach. A significant problem with the outreach model is the failure to provide adequate legal and ethical support for those in outreach roles. Additionally, unless research subjects can be granted assurances of confidentiality, they will not engage in research for fear of later prosecution. At this time when outreach models are the modus operandi, the lack of a fundamental commitment to sustain confidentiality may seriously undermine further research. This paper will draw on the experiences of some Australian qualitative research and will review some of the ethical and legal liabilities for research that arise when an assurance of confidentiality cannot be given to those participating in research.

Australia↗
PubMed2005

Basics of elder law and legal liabilities of negligence and malpractice for physicians as they apply to individuals with disabilities.

This article provides information regarding the issues that physicians face when dealing with elderly patients with cognitive deficits. It includes a discussion of basic legal terms and concepts that medical personnel should understand, various difficulties encountered by patients and families in crisis situations, and how the legal system deals with these issues. It concludes with a general discussion of the legal liabilities of negligence and malpractice.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Professional accountability and legal liability for the team leader and charge nurse.

The rapid evolution in health care systems has significantly altered the roles and responsibilities of team leaders and charge nurses. Charge nurses and team leaders are responsible for promoting safe and effective patient care and maintaining high clinical standards in all settings. The Nursing Practice Act, state board of nursing administrative rules and regulations, and resources from professional organizations guide team leaders and charge nurses in these functions. Case law in recent medical malpractice actions also has affirmed the central role that team leaders and charge nurses play in preventing negative patient outcomes. The professional accountability and legal liability of team leaders and charge nurses in perinatal settings are examined. Effective strategies for reducing legal risk also are presented.

Education, Nursing, Continuing↗
PubMed1995

[Legal liability in consultation of physicians of different specialties from the legal viewpoint].

Modern medicine is unthinkable without medical teamwork with differentiated cooperation. The horizontal division of the work, meaning the cooperation of physicians from different specialties on the basis of an equal order and the equal right in giving instructions, has to be differentiated from the relationship of subordinate and senior physicians in the vertical division of work which may be found in the relationship between the coordinator, subordinate physicians and the medical assistant staff. However, the danger of mistakes increases with the number of involved specialists. On one side, the jurisdiction has to protect the patient from the typical dangers of the division of work but has to protect the physician from an excessive liability for the malpractice of others on the other side. The necessary medico-legal rules in the area of the horizontal cooperation, after modification in the vertical cooperation as well, are the principle of a strict separation of work and the principle of trust. According to the principle of a strict separation of work, every specialist independently carries out the tasks entrusted to him without the right to instruct or supervise other specialists. The principle of trust means that every specialist may rely on the fact that the other partners will carry out their tasks with the necessary care. The limitations of trust are reached in a certain situation when a partner is not able to accomplish his tasks, i.e. due to incompetence, fatigue, or illness. Then, the physician, which is actually not in charge, has to act. Overlapping areas between the specialties should be discussed on-site or should be regulated by interdisciplinary agreements.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1994

Legal liability of physicians in medical research.

The intent of this paper is to provide an overview, in layperson's language, of the concepts in law which may be applicable to a physician who undertakes research. The paper is divided into 2 parts. Part I deals with liability issues and standards of care. It is meant to enable the physician/researcher to recognize a potential liability situation. Part II examines insurance and related issues such as the role of the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). The paper begins with a review of 2 potential categories of liability: criminal and civil tort. Next, legal issues surrounding the consent process, which form the majority of negligence claims, are dealt with. The research process is then discussed with emphasis on the Medical Research Council of Canada Guidelines on Human Experimentation. Part II covers how research projects are funded and identifies the parties from whom insurance coverage may be sought. Information is provided from the various sources offering insurance and quasi-insurance protection with special attention on the CMPA. Each source details the circumstances necessary for its particular coverage to be triggered. Other issues addressed include those arising when research is conducted outside Canada and multiple coverage.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed2005

Legal liabilities in research: early lessons from North America.

The legal risks associated with health research involving human subjects have been highlighted recently by a number of lawsuits launched against those involved in conducting and evaluating the research. Some of these cases have been fully addressed by the legal system, resulting in judgments that provide some guidance. The vast majority of cases have either settled before going to trial, or have not yet been addressed by the courts, leaving us to wonder what might have been and what guidance future cases may bring. What is striking about the lawsuits that have been commenced is the broad range of individuals/institutions that are named as defendants and the broad range of allegations that are made. The research community should take this early experience as a warning and should reflect carefully on practices where research involving human subjects is concerned.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗