Essay on Medical Law and Bioethics Unit 4 Project

A person’s life can end at any age. They can depart quickly or slowly. End of life care, also known as palliative care, is the care of patients that are not only in their final hours or days but the patients with a terminal illness that has become incurable. End of life care takes into mind what the patient desires so it is recommended that they consider an advanced care plan also known as an advance directive and living will. These documents allow the patient to formulate decisions on the future of their care if, at any point, they cannot vocally express themselves.

Medical malpractice lawsuits are an extremely serious topic and have affected numerous patients, doctors, and hospitals across the country. Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional” (Medical malpractice, n.d.). If a doctor acts negligent and causes harm to a patient, malpractice lawsuits arise. Negligence is the concept of the liability concerning claims of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of tort law. Tort law provides that one person may litigate negligence to recover damages for personal injury. Negligence laws are designed to deter careless behavior and also to

The increased use of advanced directives, such as do-not-resuscitate orders, has made discussions on end-of-life care much easier for patients and professionals alike.

The topic of end-of-life care may seem daunting and uncomfortable, and yet most individuals do have unique desires and concerns regarding their provision for the future. Providing the opportunity for that communication, the advance directive and POLST forms allow an individual to explicitly state their wishes before the future. Developed to lessen the apprehensions concerning patients undergoing any extensive and unwanted measures to preserve life at any cost, these medical directives lighten the decision-making burden for physicians and families alike and help comply with the patient’s utmost end-of-life wishes.

Figure 1 displays each state within the United States and which form of advanced directive they have adopted into their individual state’s laws. Utah is one of twenty-eight states which have implemented an advanced health care directive with both a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care. In the state of Utah advanced health care directive is defined as “a designation of an agent to make health care decisions for an adult when the adult cannot make or communicate health care decisions; or an expression of preferences about health care decisions” (le.utah.gov). Agent is defined as “a person designated in an advance health care directive to make health care decisions for the declarant (le.utah.gov).” An individual has the right to not appoint and agent on Utah advanced health care directive forms as well (le.utah.gov).

The last element is damages. “Damages are proven when it is determined the injury was a result of the practitioner's actions. The intent of awarding damages is to make the plaintiff whole, meaning as if the negligence never occurred” (Walker, 2011, para. 15). Damages are usually paid in the form of money, but I do not think any amount of money will ever make this patient feel whole or that the negligence never occurred.

This paper concerns the ethical basis for advance directives, or “Living Wills”; the value of these advance directives to the patients, their families; and the authorities that these advance directives give the above mentioned interested parties.

When you are able, you should put thought into the physical process you will go through. All of us love you and want to make sure that when the time comes, we know and can follow your wishes regarding the care you wish to receive. Having your decisions thoroughly and clearly stated in an advance directive will make this possible. (Berger, 2014, p. 590). Your advance directive document may contain a living will, a signed consent for Do Not Resuscitate (DNR), and information identifying your healthcare proxy. Understanding these things now, will help you make clear choices. A living will clarifies what care, or lack of care, you wish to have (Berger, 2014, p. 590). This is helpful for reference if you are ever unconscious or in any way incapable

The Advance Directives form is somewhat different but its purpose is the same: to let an individual make end of life decisions. It is a longer form, with more involved questions.

This film explains the legal role of advance directives in end of life issues. An advance directive is “a written document directing how medical decisions are to be made in the future when the patient lacks decisional capacity and is unable to decide and choose” (Hanlon, End of Life Issues, Slide 28, Bullet 1). All three of the cases demonstrate the importance in filling out some form of directive. When there is nothing to go off of, it makes decisions extremely tough for families and medical providers. Having legal documentation of patient wishes helps understand what treatments they would or would not consent to. In cases like

The use of advance directives is increasing day by day. It is the legal paper that describes the patient wish and provide power to someone to take decision on end of life situation. It helps to healthcare providers to take the treatment decision when the patient is in unstable condition. I agree with you that Like the use of advance directives would prevent a lot of critical situation like this if it was done on time. Changing and reviewing advance directive in a timely manner is important for healthcare provider because it help them to be updated with all rules and regulation regarding patient care. Advance directives can be changed at any time but once it is changed, a new form should be created and old should be destroyed. Changing and

Although my family has trouble talking about advanced care planning, I have felt strongly about this topic ever since I became interested in health care. I feel that its so important for everyone to have their wishes, at the very least, verbalized to their loved ones. I feel that planning for end of life when you are in an unaltered mental state/physical state is pertinent to having the most accurate wishes expressed! I have verbally expressed my wishes, however I feel that I will soon have mine expressed in a concrete way, such as an Advanced Directive form. I wasn’t explicitly educated on this topic until I took my Bioethics course during my sophomore year here at Mount Saint Mary’s. I immediately went home and told my mom about how passionate

With an increasing aging population and growing numbers of individuals with chronic conditions, it is important for individuals to prepare for end-of-life care. An Advance Directive is a defined as a “legal document that provides data to critical care staff about patients’ wishes, especially when critical illness decreases decision-making ability” (McAdam, Stotts, Padilla, and Puntillo, 2005). An Advance Directive also allows for better communication between the patient and doctor, and preserves the autonomy of patients. It may also alleviate one’s family from any possible burden of uncertainty of one’s wishes. It provides guidance, which may avert arguments with family members concerning treatment choices (Cedars Sinai, 2015). The Patient

Advance Directives are our wishes when we are at end of life stages of life that give specific direction of how, who, and when to treat us in our final days and hours. We can have documents drawn up to say what we want in the event we are in a state where we cannot voice our wishes aloud. These documents have legal and ethical basis, and they should be followed unless the legally or ethically unable to do so.

Negligence happens when a “person’s actions fall below a certain level of care. Negligence can involve doing something carelessly or failing to do something that should have been done.” (Fremgen, 2009, p. 35). In order to prove negligence the plaintiff must present the following elements: 1) duty to care, 2) breach of duty to care, 3) injury and 4) causation (Pozgar, 2012, p. 33). Duty to care is the first element which deals with the care that the defendant (physician) owes the plaintiff (the patient).