LAW IN ALLIED HEALTH

What is Law?
- Law is the set of rules that govern our behavior
Criminal law prohibits ans punishes certain conduct for the benefit of society, a rime is an offense against a locale, state, or the United State
Civil law concerns the private rights ans duties of individuals who live within a society. A right is an individual power, privilege,or immunity. A duty is an individual obligation
Governments create laws. which means a constitution adopted by the people creates a government and gives the gov't the power to adopt laws governing the people.
- The government has three branches - legislative, executive and judicial
1. Legislation- Legislators adopt laws. Statutes are legislation passed by legisltive bodies on the federal and state levels. Ordinances are legislation adopted by local legislation bodies
2. Administrative Regulations- Laws adopted by legislative bodies require an agency to carry out the law. Ex: FDA- is an administrative agency created to carry out or enforce laws relating to that subject ,matter.
3. Common Law- a system or law originally developed in England developed on a case by case basis from court decisions.
Licensing protects the public by ensuring that such medical personnel have met certain minimum requirements. License can be revoked for misconduct, substance abuse,fraud, criminal conduct and mental incapcity
Certification- refers to a professional organization or institution representing that a certified person have passed a test, completed a course of study.
Neglignce- when medical professional fail to meet a certain standard of care. They have been negligent and are liable for damages
Malpractice-failure to meet the required standard of care.
- adding codes (upcoding) for services not performed
- lower codes (downcoding) lowering the amount of reimbursement
Vicarious Liability- When one person is held responsible for the actions of another. Ex: A phyicians are vicariously liable for the negligence of their employees.
Respondeat superior " Let the master answer"

Litigation- process for resolving disputes thru the courts
Alternative Dispute Resolution- ( ADR) process for resolving disputes outside the court that may be used before of after litgation has begun.
Prelitgation- disputes that happen before litigation occurs, when something has happened and a patient is unhappy.

If a medical professional has reason to believe that something has happend if a patient is complaining insurance companies may require a doctor to file an incident report .

Plaintiff- ( person who is suing)
Defendants( people being sued)
Summons ( formal court notice that one is being sued )
Discovery- way of collecting written or oral testimony, documents, and other evidence to use at trial.
Litigants- parties to a lawsuit

Settlements-
- settlements are offered as part of the settlement negotiations. as more evidence is collected both sides get a better sense of victory or defeat, which create motive to settle the case
Types of trials-
- Trial finds-or determines--the facts and applies the law to the facts
- Jury trial---the jury is the fact finder
- Bench trial- no jury, the judge serves as the fact finder and weighs evidence
Burden -
- what the plantiffs are obligated to prove-in a civil case such as medical malpractice is a preponderence of evidence. This means the plaintiff must prove the defendant committed malpractice
Beyond Reasonable Doubt-
- prosecutor must prove guilt to convict someone of a crime
Evidence Rules
- Direct examination-questioning a witness by the attorney for the party who called the witness
- Cross examination-questioning f a witness by anyone other than the party who called the witness
- Hearsay- statement originally made outside of the court that is repeated in the court room and offered as truth
- Speculation-when a witness gives an improper opinion rather than stating what he or she saw, heard, felt, touched, or smelled
- Expert Opinion-knowledgeable experts an give opinion within their fields of expertise
Appeals-
- questions to weather an error was made at a trial court level
Arbitration-
- the parties present evidence to a impartial person who makes binding decision on the parties
Mediation
- occurs when a neutral third person helps the parties in a dispute reach a settlement-these are not judges
Facilitative Mediation-
- the mediatior guides e mediation process, but doesn't express opinions on the merits of each party position
  - instead the mediator assists in reaching mutually agreeable resolution by asking questions that bring out each person point of view
Evaluative Mediation
- the mediator gives opinions about the merits of the case , pointing out weaknesses and may predict what a judge or jury would likely do
  - mediation of malpractice claims is often evaluative mediation

	Created by Ashley Cunningham over 4 years ago

Medical Administration Note on Introduction to Allied Health, Law and Medical Offices, created by Ashley Cunningham on 01/06/2020.