Medical Law and Ethics
Law and ethics are different disciplines which tend to interact in different ways especially in the medical profession. Medical practitioners face many issues in their medical practice that require other professionals such as lawyers, ethicists and risk managers to intervene. This is where law and ethics interact with medicine in order to ensure that the medical practices and activities are done in an ethical and legal manner. Medical law and ethics will guarantee safety to all medical practitioners as well as the patients in any medical facility.
Medical law and ethics requires the expertise of medical practitioners, ethicists and lawyers. Each of these experts has a role to play in the medical environment where medical and law or ethics experts consult over a range of issues that arise often. For example, risk management experts and lawyers have a close link with most health care institutions. In fact, some health facilities hire risk managers to be their attorneys. The distinction between law and ethics is well defined as follows. Ethics is concerned with reducing bad behavior and mechanisms in a health institution, for instance, risk management helps in the reduction of the risk of incurring liabilities caused by the practices or policies in the health institution. Law on the other hand in concerned with the establishment of rules of social conduct. The enforcement of the laws will lead to any violations of the rules being treated as civil or criminal liability. Therefore, medical ethics an important discipline or methodology that helps in considering effects of medical treatment and technology.
Medical ethics and law are expressed and derived from various sources. The laws are usually formulated and enforced by the federal and state authorities. Laws can also be derived from state or federal statutes. Expression of laws can further be done through federal and state regulations on certain medical practices. Finally, case laws, where decisions of individual law suits are made at the appellate levels of both state and federal courts. On the other hand, ethics are expressed and enforced through the use of social and legal frameworks of the health facility.
The ethical and law concepts are used together in close relations. Ethics are used to identify the values that ought to be observed and respected within a health facility by both the staff and patients. Law on the other hand, is used to express the values and ethos of social life that must be enforced in a health environment to ensure an efficient and successful environment for both staff and patients. The medical laws and ethics play a major role to ensure the medical discipline is run efficiently by professionals and that the patients are treated with quality expertise. Laws and ethics each plays a distinct role which occasionally overlaps from on discipline to another to ensure a good medical environment.
Medical laws and ethics help citizens of all background to access descent medical care. The laws state that every citizen has a right to life and good health. Such laws together with the specific laws that refer to how all citizens in the country should be given proper medical care are important in promoting medical care. Ethics also help because in any given society, it is crucial that any individual who is sick or faces any kind of medical problem should be given medical attention. The laws grant every individual the right to access proper medication and also guides on the procedures that should be observed in a medical facility such as the transfer and stabilization programs, care provision and emergency treatment. Ethically, it is also required that patients who are so sick require emergency treatment while other patients’ conditions should be stabilized and if they require further treatment, they should be transferred to better medical facilities with specialized experts.
Medical law and ethics is also used when dealing with matters of informed consent. Informed consent is a requirement whereby before a patient agrees to any medical procedure to be done on them, either the patient’s next of kin or the patient themselves are fully informed of what the procedure is all about, its effects, its costs and how it will be done by the medical experts. Every patient must consent to procedures such as surgery, therapy or any other complex medical procedure. The medical staff also must consent to any form of medical procedure before it is done by any doctor. There have been cases where doctors performed procedures illegally and ended up being sued. Such cases include carrying out abortions against the hospital’s go-ahead or performing surgery on patients without their consent. It is required by law that consent by either the patient or the hospital is necessities before any medical procedures are done on any patient.
Confidentiality of any information that is health care related, baring situations where there is need for mandatory reporting obligations like duty to warn, elder and child abuse, is another role that medical law and ethics play. The health care laws state that it is ethically and legally sound that patient information is kept confidential to only the patient and the hospital management.
Laws and ethics are also used in medical facilities when dealing with matters of abortion. Abortion has been a contentious issue in many countries over its legality. Ethically, abortion is not allowed in society since it is considered murder. The laws require that abortion should not be allowed unless it is necessary for the sake of the expectant woman. It can only be performed if the life of the woman is in danger. Therefore, medical experts put in mind both the ethical and legal perspective when making decisions about abortion.
Suicide is illegal and ethically wrong in any society or country in the world. In medicine, decisions have at times to be made concerning suicide. Physician assisted suicide is a medical procedure where a physician induces death to a patient who could have some health issues. Cases of physician assisted suicide are delicate matters which have to be assessed by hospital attorneys to determine the medical or health situation of the patient. Patient who have to be assisted to commit suicide have to be those whose health is deteriorating and will definitely die, therefore, to avoid further emotional, mental and physical suffering, the patient is assisted by a physician to pass away.
In medical laws and ethics, there is a defined way of communicating with health care providers. There are those people who have the privileged opportunities to communicate with providers of health care services. There is a designed procedure that has to be followed to communicate. The hospital designs their ethics in a way that this procedure is followed to the later. The law also requires that only specific individuals be given such rights to communicate. Therefore, laws and ethics play a major role in ensuring that the medical sector is efficiently run by experts and there is law and order in the facilities. It is because of medical laws and ethics that medical facilities can do what is legal and also what is ethical according to the law of the country and the ethics of the people. This ensures integrity, transparency and professionalism in the medical sector.
References
Fremgen, B. F. (2010). Medical Law and Ethics (4, revised ed.). New York: Pearson.
Herring, J. (2010). Medical Law and Ethics (3 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
