(LR) Legal Responsibilities Module Overview

Legal Responsibilities

Introduction

Photo of a nurse viewing a record in a records storage areaHave you ever been asked an embarrassing question? Of course, you have. Sometimes the questions that are asked by your healthcare team can be embarrassing. The law states that the information between a healthcare worker and the client/patient must be kept private. This is called confidentiality.  It means that healthcare workers must protect the information they are given by the patient and must retain all records regarding treatments, medications, and therapies from being made available to persons who are not directly concerned with the care of the patient. 

We are going to explore the legal issues associated with the healthcare field. This includes the terms related to the laws that protect the client and the healthcare worker and some basic information regarding the responsibilities of the worker and the client.

Essential Questions

  1. What are Laws, Morals, and Ethics?
  2. How do Civil Law and Criminal Law differ?
  3. What are torts?
  4. What is meant by Standard of Care and Scope of Practice?
  5. How can a patient give informed consent?
  6. How would you categorize the basic legal responsibilities of healthcare workers in regard to torts law: malpractice, negligence, invasion of privacy, privileged communication, patient/client confidentiality, and informed consent?
  7. How would you describe the patient's rights and responsibilities?
  8. How would you describe advanced directives?
  9. Why are institutional policies and procedures important?
  10. What laws/guidelines determine what care a client receives, what information can be shared, and what procedures must be followed?

Module Minute

Image of a clock face icon with the words The Module Minute in center Healthcare professionals are responsible for knowing and following laws and professional guidelines that govern the profession. Laws, and rules that must be followed, differ from moral/ethical principles that are shaped by life experiences. Healthcare professionals are accountable to Criminal Law, wrongs against a person, and Civil Law, the protection of individual rights. Civil wrongs occur when a person's rights are violated and include those bound by contract and those occurring secondary to failure to meet the expected standard of care. Healthcare professionals are required to take caution when caring for human life as a standard, not an option. This includes performing procedures and processes that have been defined by the state board overseeing the professional license, referred to as Scope of Practice. Patients are entitled to receive care that is professional and reasonable for their diagnostic treatment. Included in these patient rights is the opportunity to state what medical treatment an individual would like to receive in the form of Advance Directives.

Keywords

Please review the following terms.

  1. Civil Law – a law that focuses on the protection of individual rights torts – wrongful acts associated with a contract
  2. Malpractice - improper professional activity or treatment.
  3. Negligence - the failure to provide reasonable care resulting in damage or injury to another
  4. Invasion of privacy – exposing private activities or personal information without the consent of the person
  5. Privileged communication – the information given to healthcare personnel by a patient or patient representative
  6. Confidentiality – maintaining privacy or secrecy
  7. Informed consent – the process of obtaining voluntary permission to perform a procedure by providing a verbal explanation of associated risks
  8. Patient's rights – the legal and ethical treatment of a patient
  9. Patient's Bill of Rights - a guideline for the delivery of patients' rights initially established by the American Hospital Association
  10. HIPAA - a 1996 Federal law that restricts access to individuals' private medical information
  11. Advanced directives – a written statement of an individual's requests regarding medical treatment
  12. Contract - a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law

 

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