ETHICS AND THE LAW
Posted by admin on November 16th, 2009Although physicians may wish they could resolve difficult problems simply by asking if a course of action is legal, the law is not so directive (see also Ch. 108). Only a few actions (such as violent killing and fraud) are always wrong, and only a few (such as informing a patient and refer¬ring to another well-qualified physician for consultation) are always le¬gally safe. Nearly everything else is sometimes protected, sometimes penalized, and often ambiguous. Ethical questions are often emotion¬ally charged, and legal precedents may conflict or be ambiguous in their application to a particular case.
With any difficult issue, disagreement arises as to what is unreason¬able behavior, and legal developments reflect the disagreement. How¬ever, one generalization currently holds true in the USA: What is con¬sidered by professionals and society to be the best medical and ethical practice has usually been upheld when tested in court. In other words, if a physician proceeds with due care, thorough documentation, and an understanding of the local legal risks, legal considerations will not in¬terfere with good medical and ethical practice. Physicians should learn from reliable sources about the law that affects their practice.
