Medical Law and Professional Ethics

Law

A rule or action that is prescribed by a governmental authority and has a binding legal force.

Regulation

A rule made and maintained by an authority.

Rule

An explicit or understood regulation or principle that governs conduct within a specific activity or situation.

Philosophy

The study of the truths and principles of existence, reality, knowledge, values, or conduct that guide behavior.

Morality

The quality of practicing the right conduct; defines correct conduct according to an individual’s ideals and principles.

Ethics

A set of principles of right and wrong conduct; a system of values that guides behavior in relationships with people in accordance with social roles.

Value-based healthcare delivery model

Payment model in which healthcare providers are compensated based on patient health outcomes.

Fee-for-service model

Payment model in which healthcare providers are compensated according to volume of hours or other measures of care.

Profession

A calling that requires specialized training and membership in a group that establishes and enforces codes of conduct or codes of ethics, including requirements for continuing education and payment of periodic membership fees.

Hippocratic Oath

An oath attributed to the ancient Greek known as Hippocrates that require a new physician to swear upon a number of healing gods that he will uphold professional ethical standards; strongly binds the student to his teacher and the greater community of physicians.

Autonomy

An individuals right to self-determination that is free from undue interference from others.

Beneficence

The act of performing goodness, kindness, or charity, including all actions intended to benefit others based on a moral obligation to do so.

Non-malfeasance

The principle that requires a practitioner to do no harm to a patient by not performing up to professional standards, such as through ineffective, careless, or intentional wrongful acts.

Justice

The principle that requires giving others what is due to them, including the fair distribution of benefits, risks, and costs.

Medical ethics committee

A group of knowledgeable healthcare-related experts who are convened to provide advice and assistance in resolving unusual, complicated ethical problems that involve issues affecting the care and treatment of patients.

Bioethics

The study of the ethical and moral implications of new biological discoveries and biomedical advances.

Institutional Review Board

Groups of experts convened to review proposed research activities at an institution with the focus of protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects recruited to participate in those research activities.

Common Rule

The common name for 45 CFR Part 46, Subpart A, which outlines the authority of IRB’s and helps protect fetuses, neonates, and pregnant women, prisoners, and children involved in research studies.

United States Constitution

The formal charter of the United States, which defines the powers and limitations of the national government and the rights of the people.

Common law

Rules derived form English law, (French law in Louisiana) and tradition that have often been formally adopted into state laws or used to determine decisions in American courts.

Government of limited power

A government that can only exert authority is has been given by its Constitution.

Articles

Sections of the US Constitution

Amendments

Additions to the US Constitution that addresses topics not covered in the original Constitution

Separation of Powers

A purposeful structuring of the government to avoid one person or group of people wielding uncontrolled centralized power.

Checks and Balances

The limitations of each branch of government and the coordination among the branches required to operate the government.

Legislative Branch

The portion of the government made up of lawmakers elected by the people; includes the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Statutory Law

The body of law established by legislatures, as opposed to common law that has been developed over time by case law.

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (2009)

A federal law established to promote the adoption of health information technology while protecting patient privacy.

Commerce Clause

A clause in the US Constitution that grants Congress extensive power to regulate the economy, particularly the flow of items and information between the states.

Executive branch

The portion of the government that is empowered to implement the laws established by the legislative branch.

Cabinet

The advisory body to the President of the United States, which is made up of the heads of various federal agencies.

Judicial branch

The portion of the government made up of judges and courts that resolve issues involving the application of laws.

Full faith and credit

The Constitution’s requirement that each state recognize the equal powers of each state to establish its own law; has been used to ensure that barriers to commerce and rights of citizenship do not interfere with the nation functioning as a single entity.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution, which protects the individual rights of citizens.

Due Process Clause

A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that bas been interpreted to mean that citizens cannot be deprived of life and liberty without notice and a right to be heard.

Equal Protection Clause

A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that is intended to end all remaining discrimination resulting from slavery and requires state laws to protect each citizen equally.

Supremacy Clause

A clause in Article VI of the US Constitution that establishes that all federal laws and all treaties made under the authority of the United States are the “supreme law of the land.”

Statues

Laws established by a legislative branch.

Case law

Law that is made by courts as they resolve issues presented to them.

Police Power

The basic right of state and local governments to make laws and regulations for the benefit of their communities.

Certification

A document that formally recognizes the recipient as having successfully achieved a specific level of training or demonstrated a specific level of competence.

License

A legally authorized permit to work in a given field.

Code of Ethics

A set of rules established to guide the conduct of members of a profession.

Suspension

A temporary negation of the rights and privileges granted by a license.

Revocation

An official government act that permanently takes away all rights afforded by a license.

Allied Health Professionals

Healthcare workers who deliver services involving the identification, evaluation, and prevention of diseases and disorders; dietary and nutrition services; and rehabilitation and health systems management.

Professional Organization

A group that consists of individuals who are subject to specific standards regarding training and experience as well as ethical rules.

Accreditation

The process for authorizing or approving a facility, program, or person that conforms to formal standards.

Civil litigation

A formal legal procedure or action in court that determines legal rights and responsibilities.

Civil law

Noncriminal law; typically addresses nonviolent circumstances and events that are perceived as wrongs suffered.

Plaintiff

A person or group who is accusing another person or group of wrongdoing.

Defendant

A person against whom an action of claim is brought in a court of law; may also be called a respondent.

Civil liability

The legal obligation to pay or perform another court-enforced action as a result of private wrongs (noncriminal acts) or breach of contract.

Tort

An act of wrongdoing that results in injury to another person or damage to another’s property.

Negligence

The failure to act as a reasonable person of ordinary prudence would act in a certain situation.

Medical malpractice

The improper, unskilled, or negligence treatment of a patient by a healthcare professional.

Standard of Care

The degree of caution or actions expected of a person, such as a healthcare practitioner, in the course of professional duties.

Negligence per se

Negligence in which the duty is presumed if the act violated a law intended to protect the public; unlike ordinary negligence, the conduct is automatically considered negligence, and the focus of the suit will be whether the conduct proximately caused damage to the plaintiff.

Breach of Duty

A failure to perform some obligation or promise; the neglect or failure to fulfill the standard of care when one person or company has an obligation toward another person or company.

Causation

Term that describes the relationship between an action or condition and its effect or result.

Intentional torts

Deliberate civil wrongs.

Battery

The intentional offensive or harmful touching of another person without that person’s consent.

Assault

An intentional attempt to injure or harm another person; no physical contact is necessary for an assault to occur.

False imprisonment

Term for the restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

A tort that involves purposeful misconduct that is so extreme that it causes the victim severe emotional trauma.

Invasion of Privacy

Intrusion into the personal life of another person without just cause.

Defamation

Any intentionally false communication, either written, (libel) or spoken, (slander) that harms a person’s reputation; decreases the respect toward the person; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions of feelings against a person.

Libel

Defamation that occurs in a written format.

Slander

Defamation that occurs in a verbal manner.

Business disparagement

false and injurious statements related to a business; requires proof of a specific economic loss.

Fraud

The intentionally false representation of a material fact that is calculated to deceive, and does deceive another person to legal detriment or loss.

Money damages

Payments warded by the court in a liability suit.

Punitive damages

A type of award that is designed to punish a defendant and deter bad conduct.

Restraining order

A court order intended to protect an individual from further harm from someone who has hurt him or her.

Contract law

Rules-based statues and case law related to enforcing promises.

Implied contract

An enforceable promise or an agreement created by the action of the involved parties without a specific written or spoken agreement.

Uniform Commercial Code

Set of laws and regulations that govern all commercial transactions in the United States.

Strict liability

The imposition of liability that makes a person or company responsible for actions or products that cause damages regardless of any intent, caution, or preventive acts.

Statue of limitations

A written law that limits the period of time during which a person can assert his or her right to bring a claim, or forever lose the right to bring a claim.

Criminal law

A system of law consisting of a body of rules and statues that define conduct prohibited by the government because such conduct is an offense against the state and threatens and harms public safety and welfare.

Crime

An act, or failure to act, that is deemed injurious of public welfare or morals and for which someone can be punished by the government.

Misdemeanor

A minor crime; maximum punishment includes fines and up to one year in jail.

Felony

A serious crime that typically involves violence and is usually punishable by at least one year in state prison or death.

Prosecutor

A representative of the government who brings charges and leads government efforts to prove the guilt of a defendant in court.

Due process

The legal requirements that the government provide fair treatment through the normal judicial system.

Privileged communication

Information exchanged between people who are in certain recognized relationships, such as a physician-patient relationship, that can’t be disclosed without the consent of the protected party.

Criminal negligence

The failure to use reasonable care to avoid consequences that threaten or harm the safety of the public and that have a foreseeable outcome.

General intent

A mental plan to do something that is against the law whether the specific results that eventually occur were meant to happen or not.

Specific intent

A conscious intention and premeditation to do something that is prohibited by law and will cause a specific harm or result.

Conspiracy

An agreement made by two or more people to perform an illegal or harmful act.

Mandator reporter

A person who has a legal requirement to report an event or issue to someone else; might include reporting child or elder abuse.

Public Health Service Act (1944)

Law that structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (2010)

Law that was passed to help decrease the number of Americans who do not have health insurance and help reduce to overall cost of healthcare.

False Claims Act

Law that prohibits any individual or business from submitting, or causing someone else to submit, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the government, allows individuals to sue on behalf of the government on knowledge of past or present fraud against the federal government.

Anti-Kickback Statue (1972)

A criminal statue that prohibits the exchange (or offer to exchange) of anything of value in an effort to receive the reward of federal healthcare program business.

Stark Anti-Referral Law (1992)

Law that prohibits physician referrals or designated health services for Medicare and Medicaid patients if the physician or an immediate family member has a financial relationship with that entity.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (1996)

Law that aims to protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help control administrative costs.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990)

Law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities; also establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services.

Rehabilitation Act (1973)

Law that prohibits discrimination based on disability in programs run by federal agencies, programs that receive federal financial assistance, federal employment, and the employment practices of federal contractors.

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) (1986)

A law created to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay.