Tort Laws and Ethics

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In today’s health care, there are laws set in place to protect the well-being and best interest of the patient. These laws range from tort laws, criminal laws, and contract laws. Although each of these laws are set in place to protect the patient to a certain degree of wrongdoing on the physicians and medical facilities part, they can be distinguished by which one affects health care professionals directly compared to indirectly. In this paper, I will discuss the Tort Law, the law that most directly influences Health Care Professionals.

Tort Law Defined

Tort Law can be defined as the civil wrongdoing against a person. Tort warrants claimants to seek restitution for their alleged disservice for bodily harm, effects, or character. In order to file a tort claim, the claim has to be factual or true by the party that suffered the disservice. Medical personnel and facilities can receive jail time and/or malpractice claims if found guilty of such negligence as described in the tort claim. According the Congressional Budget Office (2006), “The system has twin objectives: deterring negligent behavior on the part of providers and compensating claimants for losses (including medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering) they incur as the result of an injury that occurs because of negligence” (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/71xx/doc7174/04-28-MedicalMalpractice.pdf ).

Torts can be divided into categories, such as negligence and intentional torts. Negligence is the most common tort claim filed towards health care professionals. Tort laws are set in place to recognize what can be defined as a legal injury and what criteria needs to be met in order to meet the requirements to claim that a wrong doing has been committed against the...

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... govern the definition of new laws and the way that ethics are treated.

References

Callahan, D. & Jennings, B. (2002). Ethics and public health: Forging a strong relationship. Am J Pub Health :92:169-176.

Congressional Budget Office. (2006). Medical malpractice tort limits and health care spending. Retrieved on January 5, 2012, from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/71xx/doc7174/04-28-MedicalMalpractice.pdf

Forrester, K., & Griffiths, D. (2010). Essentials of law for health professionals. Sydney: Mosby Elsevier. Retrieved from Google Books.

Gostin, L. (2011). Public health law, ethics, and human rights: Mapping the issues. Retrieved on January 9, 2012, from http://www.publichealthlaw.net/Reader/ch1/ch1.htm

Pozgar, G. D., & Santucci, N. (2010). Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals. (2nd Edition). Sudbury, Maine : Jones and Bartlett Publishers

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