Such evidence also raises the question of whether there are limits to the health improvements that can be achieved through medical care alone. Understanding the intersection of legal and health inequalities can provide space for innovative solutions and highlights the need to put service users at the heart of any reform. Instead of expecting patients or physicians to navigate complex structures, evidence-based policies and user-centred service models can improve health and equity outcomes. It is an established legal principle that courts cannot rely retrospectively to assess a physician`s negligence. Rather, the court must assess the physician`s actions in light of the circumstances that existed at the time of the alleged negligence. The duties that a physician owes to his or her patients are a duty of care in deciding whether to complete the case, a duty of care in deciding on the treatment to be administered, and a duty of care in administering that treatment. [3] Failure to comply with any of these obligations entitles the patient to an action for negligence. A physician must be aware that in order to succeed in the claim of negligence, the plaintiff (patient) must prove that the damage would not have occurred but for the negligence of the defendant (physician); or the negligence of the defendant contributed significantly to or significantly increased the risk of harm; or if the request is for negligent non-disclosure, he or she would not have agreed to the treatment if he or she had been properly informed. [4] The two should not be confused, although some legal cases may involve both, such as when a physician is summoned as an expert witness in a malpractice case against another health care provider. Effective drafting of the MLR will provide insight into how critical the violation is and its significance, and will assist law enforcement agencies in conducting further investigations and making decisions. Forensic documentation includes the overall documentation of the clinical aspects of a case and the information required by the courts.5 Documentation of the injury can include the type, size, location, direction of injury, age of injury, as well as recovery time and direction of injury.5 Therefore, an MPR is crucial because it provides the courts with meaningful written evidence from the medical expert. False or incomplete reports can lead to a pause or delay in the trial and victims` rights can be violated.2 The most common errors in MLR are misidentification of external traumatic injuries, lack of documentation, and state of consciousness.2 Documentation of the nature of the injury and its description helps to infer the causal weapon or pathogen. For example, abrasions, bruises, and lacerations are caused by blunt force, while cuts are caused by sharp force.6 Some clinicians may have received requests for advice on other aspects of the law.
One in five Australians has three or more legal problems in a year, according to a 2012 survey. Legal issues include accidents, family breakdown, debt and crime. In the study, 30% of respondents sought legal advice from a lawyer and 18.9% sought legal advice from a physician. People with chronic illness or disability were more likely to have legal problems. Members should keep in mind that in the event of a dispute, the applicant must prove that the physician`s treatment of the patient fell below the standard of care and that this failure caused harm to the patient. The law does not require perfection from a physician; A physician`s treatment is the standard of care if the physician has demonstrated the level of competence expected of a prudent practitioner with similar training and experience in a similar situation. 11. Jadoon OK, Shireen F, Seema N, et al. Types of medical-legal cases reported in the emergency department of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. 2020;32(1):51–53.
The present study has potential limitations. This is a single-centre study and may not be generalizable. Further studies are expected to include several centres in the country. In addition, all reports have been translated into Arabic and English. In addition, the duration of the examination is only six months, which may not be the complete nature of the medico-legal cases that occur in the aforementioned hospital. 9. Malik R, Atif I, Rashid F, Abbas M. An analysis of 3105 forensic cases in Rawalpindi tertiary hospital.
Pak J Med Sci. 2017;33(4):926–930. doi:10.12669/pjms.334.11696 Read the forensic equivalent of War and Peace if you can find it and have months of free time. For the rest of us, a case-based focused excursion through this “top 10” list should satisfy our need for an overview of the basic regulations, rules, process processes, and principles of medical error that every provider should be aware of. What is your role in the provider-patient relationship? In the simplest case, it is a mutual agreement: the provider agrees to examine and treat the patient while the patient agrees to be examined and treated. Sometimes your legal and ethical “duty” to a patient is not so obvious, such as if you are a specialist on call at the hospital, provide telemedicine services, supervise advanced students, or consider ending a relationship with a patient. Most of us haven`t learned the concept of “duty” in medical education, but it`s never too late to go back and understand this basic concept.