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Introduction
Health care law is not simple. It is derived from many sources, and because it deals with things that are often out of one's control such as disease processes, it is even more complex. Then, throw in the variety of agencies that regulate the delivery of health care and it becomes even more complicated. Yet, as Staff Nurses, Managers and Administrators, we are all held accountable to knowing what does and does not apply to our facility, staff, medical staff, and many other entities. You must have an understanding of governmental and other agencies that govern this industry and it helps to know on what basis the law is based. We will explore those in some detail.
Likewise, criminal law has an impact on the health care industry. It is important to distinguish between intentional torts and the often complicated concept of negligence. While you will always have legal counsel available when needed in your facility, you must have a working knowledge of these concepts to implement strategies to reduce your liability. Unfortunately, it is inevitable that you will be faced with these issues at some point during your careers, either personally or related to acts of your employees or co-workers.
The Legal System and Sources of Law
Our system of government was based on the concept of federalism and checks and balances. Recall that we have a central federal government with fifty state governments with three branches of government. The purpose of this was to separate power and create a system where each entity keeps an eye on the other. Does this make sense to you? This also means that we must be aware of our role in knowing how our individual states might regulate or administer health care compared to national or federal regulations. States can set laws that are more restrictive than the federal laws as long as they are not violative of certain rights as guaranteed to all citizens. This is important to know, because it means that there may be fifty slightly...