Chapter 11: Law, Ethics, and
Professionalism in Health Care
Copyright © 2013 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Law
• Types of Law
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Public: government vs. citizens
• Criminal
• Constitutional
• Administrative
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Civil: private citizen vs. private citizen
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Law (cont’d)
• Public vs. civil law
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Law (cont’d)
• Types of Law (cont’d)
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Common
• Traditional civil law of area or region
• Based on judge’s rulings of cases
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Statutory
• Enacted by legislatures
• Enforced by courts
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Law (cont’d)
• Types of Law (cont’d)
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Tort
• Wrongful act causing harm
• Requires restitution
• Intentional vs. unintentional
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Law (cont’d)
• Kinds of torts
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Law (cont’d)
• Types of Law (cont’d)
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Assault: threat or attempt to touch a person without consent
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Battery: touching a person without consent
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Invasion of privacy
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False imprisonment
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Defamation of character
• Libel
• Slander
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Law (cont’d)
• Liability and Negligence
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Negligence: careless or senseless behavior resulting in harm
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Malpractice
• Illegal, unethical, negligent, or immoral behavior
• Results in failure of duties or responsibility
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Reporting abuse
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Law (cont’d)
• Protecting Patients’ Rights
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Advocacy: supporting best interests of all patients
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Consent
• Informed
• Implied
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Law (cont’d)
• Confidentiality and HIPAA
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Patient’s right to privacy
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Privacy rule
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Protection of patient’s personal health information
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Exceptions
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Law (cont’d)
• Right to Die
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Living will
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Durable power of attorney for health care
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Ethics
• Ethical Principles
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Autonomy
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Justice
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Nonmaleficence (do no harm)
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Beneficence (do good)
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Veracity (honesty)
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Fidelity (keep promises)
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Confidentiality
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Joint Commission
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Mission: improve safety & quality of care to public
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Accredits health care facilities
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Supports performance improvement
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Established standards of care related to ethics
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Ethics Committees
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Multidisciplinary teams for ethical decision-making
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Required by Joint Commission for all health care institutions
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Professional Codes of Ethics: Common Factors
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Quality of care
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Primary commitment to patient
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Education
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Collegiality
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Ethics
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Collaboration
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Research
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Resource utilization
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Confidentiality
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Ethical Decision-Making
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Rational & systematic
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Based on ethical principles, not emotions or intuition
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Serves patient’s best interest
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Preserves integrity of all involved
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Systematic approach for ethical decision-making
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Ethics (cont’d)
• Ethical Dilemmas
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Genetic testing
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Stem cell research
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Cloning
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Physician-assisted suicide
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Professionalism
• Definition and Characteristics of Professionalism
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A set of values, behaviors, and relationships that form a
foundation on which patient and colleague trust is formed
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Self-regulation
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Adherence to legal & ethical guidelines
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Professionalism (cont’d)
• Competence
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Lifelong learning
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Continuing education units
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Membership in peer association or professional organization
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Humility & willingness to give & receive constructive criticism
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Professionalism (cont’d)
• Professional Associations: Benefits
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Continuing education classes
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Subscriptions to professional publications
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Access to online resources
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Professional conferences, conventions, & workshops
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Networking opportunities
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Information on new technologies
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Management tools
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Ethics guidelines
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Patient educational materials
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