Types of law, confidentiality & consent

Civil law

Involves disputes between individuals or between individuals and organisations

• between citizens ad their right (sue)

• Prove on the balance of probabilities

Criminal law

• Designed to punish the criminal

• State decides what is right or wrong

• Failing to or doing something that s an offence by law

• prove beyond reasonable doubt

Statutory law

Form written law

• acts (primary legislation)

• Regulations and statutory instruments (secondary legislation)

• Code of conduct

Common law

• derived from previous court cases

• Also some historical laws that predate modern legislations (murder, manslaughter)

Examples of statutory law

Medicines act 1968

MDR- The misuse of Drugs regulations 2001

HMR- Human Medicines regulations 2012

Tort

Civil wrong (legal terminology)

Tort examples

• negligence

• Breach of confidentiality

• Defamation

• Trespass

• Assault/ battery (procedures w/o informed consent)

Administrative law

Controls the activities of public bodies(how they deliver/ administer the services they provide)

Professional responsibilities

GPhC set professional standards relating to the conduct, ethics and performance expected of pharmacy professionals

Penalties and sanctions for criminal law

Prosecutions, fines , prison sentence

Penalties and sanctions for civil law

Payment of compensation (damages)

Referral to professional or administrative route

Penalties and sanctions for administrative

Less of remuneration, NHS contract

Penalties and sanctions for professional route

Conditions, suspension, removal from register

confidentiality legal framework(basic)

1. Pharmacists have a duty of confidence to their patients

2. Data protection act 2018 / GDPR 2016

3. Human rights act 1998

4. Professional codes of conduct

3 main purposes for consent

• moral function: basic right involved in decisions about own healthcare

• Clinical function facilitate patient understanding of treatment procedure gain trust etc

• Legal function :provide justification for care, protect HCPs from criminal

‘Valid’ consent

Given voluntarily by an appropriately informed person who has the capacity to consent to the specific intervention