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Torts and Ethics

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In today’s health care, there are laws set in place to protect the well-being and best interest of the patient. These laws range from tort laws, criminal laws, and contract laws. Although each of these laws are set in place to protect the patient to a certain degree of wrongdoing on the physicians and medical facilities part, they can be distinguished by which one affects health care professionals directly compared to indirectly. In this paper, I will discuss the Tort Law, the law that most directly influences Health Care Professionals. Tort Law Defined Tort Law can be defined as the civil wrongdoing against a person. Tort warrants claimants to seek restitution for their alleged disservice for bodily harm, effects, or character. In order to file a tort claim, the claim has to be factual or true by the party that suffered the disservice. Medical personnel and facilities can receive jail time and/or malpractice claims if found guilty of such negligence as described in the tort claim. According the Congressional Budget Office (2006), “The system has twin objectives: deterring negligent behavior on the part of providers and compensating claimants for losses (including medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering) they incur as the result of an injury that occurs because of negligence” (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/71xx/doc7174/04-28-MedicalMalpractice.pdf ). Torts can be divided into categories, such as negligence and intentional torts. Negligence is the most common tort claim filed towards health care professionals. Tort laws are set in place to recognize what can be defined as a legal injury and what criteria needs to be met in order to meet the requirements to claim that a wrong doing has been committed against the patient. For example, a patient presents to the hospital with chest pain. The doctor neglects to give the patient a cardiograph and sends the patient home. Later that night, the patient dies from cardiac arrest.
Under this circumstance, the patients family can file a tort claim against the attending physician and medical facility for the negligence in performing proper test and following medical procedure which resulted in the death of their loved one. The tort can be claimed on the basis that if the physician had done the test, he may have discovered the patient’s progressive heart condition and the patient’s life could have been spared with proper treatment. Negligence Negligent tort is a multi-dimensional category that can cover many injuries that result from careless and negligent care. Negligence covers the act of unintentionally giving or neglecting to give a person care that may cause injury to the person receiving/not receiving the care. Malpractice can arise when a medical professional shows disregard and negligence to the person receiving care, which results in damages to the individuals person, assets, or reputation. Tort laws are often seen as a means of retribution when a patient feels that a health care professional violated the patient/doctor health care standards and ethics that govern how a patient shall receive proper care. According to Pozgar (2010, Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals): “The four elements that must be present for a plaintiff to recover damages caused by negligence are (1) duty to care, (2) breach of duty, (3) injury, and (4) causation. All four elements must be present in order for a plaintiff to recover for damages suffered as a result of a negligent act”. Duty of care allows that a person has the right to receive care in accordance with acceptable care practices. When cause can be shown that the physician did not follow the accepted standard of care, a breach of duty is initiated. Injury can include compensation for damages against a person, such as loss of wages, harm, and corruption against a person’s character. Causation is the process of determining that the physicians negligence closely corresponds to the patients injuries. Ethical Issues in Tort The ethics of public health are concerned with the ethical dimensions of professionalism and the moral trust that society bestows on public health professionals to act for the common welfare (Callahan 2002, Ethics and public health: Forging a strong relationship). Medical professionals are held in high regards when a patient puts their trust and confidence in the notion that they will receive the best care possible with the best results possible from this person. Public health ethics are relevant to the extensity in which public duty and moral trust are set as guidelines to the way that physicians hold themselves accountable for care provided and the results of this care. There are many issues that may cause moral dilemmas among health care professionals. According to Gostin (2011), “A public health code of ethics would have to confront the salient issue of fiduciary responsibility” (http://www.publichealthlaw.net/Reader/ch1/ch1.htm). Physicians are not only responsible for the health and welfare of individuals, but also for the community in which they practice medicine. The ethical standards within the community may be skewed due to the differences in belief systems within the individuals that make up the community. It may be difficult for medical professionals to determine what is morally acceptable within a community that has a diverse set of ethical beliefs. Therefore, the medical professional is often faced with making their own legal opinion on what is in the best interest of individuals who present from such a diverse community. Law and Ethical Decisions Law and ethics are influenced by society, politics, and industrial standards. Often the laws that are set in place are governed by the ethical standards and codes of conduct that we, as a society, deem morally correct. Tort laws were set in place to deter medical professionals from practicing at substandard levels and to dissuade them from acting unethically. Forrester and Griffiths (2010, Essentials of law for health professionals), explain that “Despite the litigation threat and the significant monetary, professional, emotional and physical costs to any and/all parties involved, malpractice and negligence charges continuously reshape laws, ethics and practice”.
Even if a medical professional acts in a manner that may be in the best interest of the patient, the decisions made by the physician may still be deemed as unethical, and therefore is grounds for a tort claim. Medical laws and ethics are not black and white, but rather they rest in a very large gray area where laws are continuously being defined in order to protect the public from the intent or lack thereof of negligence and carelessness. Conclusion There are laws that are set in place to govern the ethical standards of care that health professionals must abide. When these standards are deviated from and an act of negligence against a person occurs that results in the harm against a person, effects, or character, the result is often a tort claim or malpractice suit. The tort law most directly impacts the habits, standards, and ethical issues that health care professionals face. Laws and ethics are determined by the standards that are set by societal, governmental, and industrial influences. Although tort laws and ethics are set in place to deter medical professionals from negligence and carelessness, they are often conflicting factions that govern the definition of new laws and the way that ethics are treated.

References Callahan, D. & Jennings, B. (2002). Ethics and public health: Forging a strong relationship. Am J Pub Health :92:169-176. Congressional Budget Office. (2006). Medical malpractice tort limits and health care spending. Retrieved on January 5, 2012, from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/71xx/doc7174/04-28-MedicalMalpractice.pdf Forrester, K., & Griffiths, D. (2010). Essentials of law for health professionals. Sydney: Mosby Elsevier. Retrieved from Google Books. Gostin, L. (2011). Public health law, ethics, and human rights: Mapping the issues. Retrieved on January 9, 2012, from http://www.publichealthlaw.net/Reader/ch1/ch1.htm Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals. (2nd Edition). Sudbury, Maine : Jones and Bartlett Publishers

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