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  • May 25, 2013

Medical Law

  • Health Regulations
  • Medicolegal
  • Care Law
  • Healthcare Policy
  • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Negligence
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    Medicolegal

    Medicolegal is a term that is used to describe matters that are related to both medicine and law, also known as care and health law. Medicolegal services Medicolegal services use specially trained legal professionals to deal with complex cases, which involve both legal and medical matters. Medicolegal can be used as an umbrella term for a variety of different cases and regulations, including: Health law rules and regulations Consent Medical negligence and malpractice Confidentiality Medical law cases Medical law cases are often very complex because they are commonly …
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    Care Law

    Care law is related to the legal rights of children and young people who are in care. Care Plans and Care Orders The Care Plan is a plan which is an individual plan made for a child in care; the plan must be agreed by a Judge before a Care Order can be granted. The Care Plan contains information including where the child will live. The Care Order places the child in the care of social workers, rather than parents or relatives. The order grants the social worker parental responsibility for the child and this means they make decisions on the child’s future, including where they will live …
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    Health Regulations

    The International Health Regulations are a set of regulations drawn up by member states of the World Health Organisation. The regulations are valid in 194 countries across the world. The aim of the International Health Regulations is to prevent the spread of disease and promote good health across the world. People travel so frequently now that contagious disease can spread very quickly. Regulations are put in place to stem the spread of infections and contain diseases, making the situation more manageable for health professionals. Most people are aware of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory …
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    Healthcare Policy

    Healthcare policies are brought in to protect patients and medical staff and promote optimum working conditions and standards of patient care and service. There are many different areas within healthcare policy and new policies are introduced all the time, in tandem with new research, recommendations from authorities and organisations and new ideas. Policies may be implemented on a local or national level. In the UK, Primary Care Trusts are usually responsible for local health policies, while national policies are implemented by the Department of Health. Private healthcare providers may …
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    Medical Ethics

    Ethics is a key component of both medical and legal studies. Students who train as both lawyers and doctors are required to study modules on ethics in relation to care and health laws. Ethical issues Ethical issues arise all the time in medicine. Doctors are confronted with so-called ‘moral dilemmas’ on a regular basis and they must act within the law, even if they feel that their actions are not in the best interest of the patient. Euthanasia One of the most controversial ethical subjects in care and health law is that of euthanasia. Euthanasia is illegal in the UK but some …
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  • negligence

    Medical Negligence

    Medical negligence is the most common reason for doctors to appear in court in relation to health and care law. In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the number of people trying to sue doctors on account of medical negligence. Many people associate the increase in cases with the growth in popularity of the ‘blame’ culture and the ‘compensation culture’, with many legal firms encouraging people to come forward if they think they may have been a victim of medical negligence. You only have to enter an online search, watch television or even walk down the street to see an …
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Featured Posts:

Health-Insurance1

Proposed Personal Injury Reforms could result in more medical claims

March 4, 2013 By admin

Compensation Culture Recently published research suggests that the number of personal injury claims for injuries arising from road traffic accidents increased by almost twenty per-cent this year. This was despite a reduction in the number of road traffic accidents in 2012. Such statistics are not anomalies and are similar across the broad range of areas [...]

Welcome to Medical Law

Medicine is a specialism which comes under constant scrutiny and professionals are required to work in high pressure situations, which they are often not prepared for. In reality, a day as a doctor can take you anywhere and professionals can be faced with completely unfamiliar scenarios.

What is health law?

Health law is the area of law that relates to the laws that govern the relationship between patients, healthcare providers and other professionals working in the healthcare industry. Health law includes a variety of different areas, including:

  • Medical malpractice
  • Public health law
  • Contract law
  • Consent
  • Administrative law
  • Dealing with complaints
  • End of life legal issues
  • Health policy and Government legislation
  • Access to information
  • Medical insurance

Health law is designed to protect patients, facilitate optimum standards of care and provide medical professionals and care providers with best possible working environment.

What is medical law?

Medical law, or care and health law, is the area of law that covers cases associated with the medical profession. There are three main areas of medical law, including:

  • negligence (sometimes known as medical malpractice)
  • confidentiality
  • torts associated with criminal law and the medical profession.

Medical law is a complex specialist field, which combines the legal and medical professions. Increasingly, the worlds of medicine and law are overlapping and medicolegal cases are becoming increasingly common.

Many of them have to make split second decisions, which may, or may not, prove to be the right ones. Like everyone else, doctors are capable of making errors. However, these errors often have much more serious implications than they might have in different professions.

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Ethics

Care and health law addresses a number of ethical issues, which provoke great debate and thought. Professionals are faced with moral dilemmas on a daily basis and they must act in a way that is seen to benefit the patient, whilst also adhering to the legal restrictions laid out by the state.

Recently, ethical issues, such as euthanasia, technology and techniques associated with reproduction and sterilisation of non-competent individuals, have received a great deal of media attention. These are the kinds of issues that doctors face and there is no easy solution.

Health law and medical law are often used in an interchangeable manner. However, medical law is often associated with ethics and the notion of "doing the right thing" and is focused on the actions of the professional.

Health law is associated with the laws that influence the relationship between patients and healthcare providers and the policy and regulation surrounding the healthcare system.

Medical Negligence

The most common reason for a doctor to appear in court is a medical negligence case; negligence cases are associated with a professional’s actions or inaction in a given situation. Patients may sue a doctor if they feel that their actions or lack of action resulted in injury or harm. Negligence cases are becoming increasingly common and many experts blame the ‘compensation culture’.

Medical law and criminal law cross paths in a number of different scenarios. One of the most common intersections is the issue of consent; the consent issue has emerged in a number of famous cases and there is great debate surrounding the matter amongst both legal and medical professionals. Medical law states that patients must give consent if they are able to. Consent is not sought from the patient if they are unconscious or if they are being held under the Mental Health Act.

RSS News

  • Fix our ailing A&E units say West Midlands health chiefs - expressandstar.com
  • Lewis Hamilton warns health and safety from Monaco Grand Prix - The Sun
  • Could open plan offices be bad for your health? - NHS Choices
  • Big rise in volunteers for medical trials - BBC News
  • Health chiefs say Norwich walk-in health centre is not at risk of closure - Norfolk Eastern Daily Press
  • Dr Le Fanu's online health clinic, Friday 24 May 2013 - Telegraph.co.uk
  • Health Secretary rejects Friarage Hospital review call - BBC News

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