This overview of
medical law and ethics is written in straightforward language for
non-lawyer healthcare professionals who must be able to cope with
multiple legal and ethical issues they encounter while working in a
variety of settings--e.g., the medical office, hospitals, clinics, and
skilled nursing facilities. It is designed to help them better
understand their ethical obligation to themselves, their patients, and
their employer. New to this edition are: Changes in Contract
Law; Hiring Practices such as personnel policy manual, interview
process, legal implications, sexual harassment, discrimination issues
relating to selecting employees, incompetent and dishonest colleagues;
Expanded coverage of Privacy Law and confidentiality - to cover more on
confidentiality, HIPAA and other laws affecting the disclosure of
personal information; Expanded coverage of Consent - to include more
about informed and uninformed consent, problems when implementing
consent, the right to refuse treatment. Also discussed are: Physician's
Orders: what to do when the health care worker disagrees with the
orders, what orders can be carried out with or without a written
physician's orders; Malpractice Avoidance; and Truth-telling as in cases
of patients who do not want to be told their diagnosis or families who
do not wish to have the patient told. New to the End of Chapter
activities include: Expanded “Web Hunt” exercises; Chapter
Review fill-in-the-blank exercises to each chapter; and More Case
Studies. For those in the allied health field in a variety of
settings such as the medical office, hospitals, clinics, and skilled
nursing facilities.