Write a 14 page essay on Legal and Philosophical Issues in Caring.Download file to see previous pages... In addition, medical profession has defined its standards of accountability through a formal co

Write a 14 page essay on Legal and Philosophical Issues in Caring.

In addition, medical profession has defined its standards of accountability through a formal code of ethics. Legal challenges and court decisions can seriously affect a nurse's professional future. Thus, patient's perceptions of health care, particularly disagreements and researches of various kinds with medical professionals have caught the attention of every one since 1980s in Great Britain. These disagreements have turned often into legal complaints (Ellen Annandale 1998). These disagreements turned legal complaints lead to long litigations .In UK, the Court usually award three types of damages in medical litigations.1.Compensatory damages - for an injured plaintiff's economic losses, costs of health care and lost wages. 2. Compensatory damages - for non-economic losses including pain, suffering associated to injury and 3. Punitive damages - in cases where a defendant has been found to have acted in a willful fashion, demonstrating negligence with no regard for the patient's well being.

Thus, punitive damages aim to punish the defendants and are very damaging to the medical professionals. Medical malpractice law is part of tort, or personal injury law. The standard used to evaluate whether the breach in question rises to the level of negligence is called 'medical custom'. Medical custom is the quality of care expected of a medical professional. This custom is primarily based on the testimony of experts in the medical profession and practice guidelines. There has been a shift in recent years from the custom towards a more independent determination by the court. On account of the above discussed factors, there has been a departure from traditional approach to management of disputes between the medical professionals and the patient. The important approaches in medical care today include

1. Documentation based Medical Practice.

2. Evidence based Medical Practice.

DOCUMENTATION BASED MEDICAL PRACTICE

One of the most difficult realities of the medical practice is that, despite efforts and good care, some patients will die, either due to the nature of the disease like cancer, AIDS etc, or due to developments related to patient's age, health conditions etc. Although technological advances in health care bring extended and improved quality of life, the ability of these technologies to prolong life beyond a meaningful point has raised ethical issues, especially in "nothing more can be done" patients. Denial on the part of the patient and family members about the seriousness of terminal illness has been a barrier to discuss about end-of treatment options (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Research studies have confirmed that patients went information about their illness and end of life choices (McSkimming et.al, 1994).

The case of Nancy Curzon in USA (Suzanne, 2004) throws more light on the legal implications of most medical decisions. Nancy Curzon was a young woman involved in a car crash after which she remained in a persistent vegetative state in U.S.A.