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Regulatory Issues Surrounding A Patient Right To Refuse Care Case Study

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Regulatory Issues Surrounding a Patients Right to Refuse Care As addressed above, Congress enacted the patient Self Determination Act in 1990. They determined that any healthcare organization who participates in Medicare or Medicaid have to provide patients with written information concerning their rights when it comes to their medical care. This information needs to be given to the patient upon admission and placed in a prominent place in their medical record. This is not a voluntary program, compliance is mandatory. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid can audit an organizations compliance at any time and if they are not compliant that organization will be in jeopardy of not being allowed to participate in Medicare or Medicaid.…show more content…
The nurse knows the specifics of the patient’s illness and will be able to help the patient understand their rights and give examples of situations when they may need to exercise those rights. Nurse, Physician and Allied Health Education Situations where a patient or family member are seeking to withdraw care do not happen in our facility on a daily basis. Some of our staff may have faced this issue in the past, but most have not. I propose that all staff be required to complete a yearly competency that details a patients’ rights. This competency should also detail ethical principles and review the laws that give patients their rights. Ensuring that all people that come in contact with patients is informed on the topic could help a patient or family when they are facing a difficult time. Patients and families come in contact with many caregivers and may feel comfortable with someone other than their nurse. This is why I have decided that all staff members need to be educated. Ethics Panel Our organization should institute an ethics panel. Ethics panels are made up of people from different backgrounds that are charged with supporting healthcare organizations. We will use our panel to review clinical ethics cases, develop and or revise organizational policies to ensure they are reflective of ethical considerations, and offer ongoing education to medical staff regarding ethical issues and how to handle them if they arise. The goals of an
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