WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT: TYPES OF LAW
Donna Berg
HCA322: Health Care Ethics & Medical Law
Instructor Sarah Howell
April 1, 2013
WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT: TYPES OF LAW
The health care industry and its professionals are governed by all sorts of laws including tort laws, criminal laws, contract laws and civil laws. However, these types of laws relate and affect the professionals at different magnitudes and levels. Thus some tend to be more influential in determining the heath care professional’s conduct to a larger extent than others. A discussion of the laws that have more of a direct impact on health care professionals will be addressed. In addition, an analysis of how the law and ethical decisions work, or do not work, together shall be noted. Understanding ethical principles and laws which directly impact health care professionals are of utmost importance in order to properly deal with the difficulties faced while trying to do the right thing regarding making health care decisions that are both morally and legally acceptable.
To start, the area of law having the least impact on health care professionals is contract law. Health care professionals are under no obligation to sign contracts with any of their patients and if this ever happens it is on a rare basis. However, the professionals may hold other contractual agreements with other parties such as medical insurance firms supposed to reimburse them or contracts signed between the professionals and their employees (Pozgar, 2013). In health care, non-compete clauses and similar restrictive covenants are quite common in contracts with employees, as well as, with physicians, in particular (Austin, 2013). When carefully drafted and properly tailored, such agreements can be a highly effective means for protecting a healthcare provider's competitive interests. In some instances, a healthcare business or provider that has been found to have violated an enforceable non-compete or non-solicitation provision can...