Assignment

Southern California doctor convicted of murder in connection with the overdose deaths of three of her patients was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Dr. Tseng is the only is the only doctor in the United States to be convicted of murder and recklessly prescribing drugs (Scott,2016). In West Virginia a physician was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to seven felonies for illegal distribution of oxycodone. The physician was facing up to 20 years for each count, plus a fine of up to $1 million for each count. The physician left signed, blank prescription forms for coworkers to issue narcotics without seeing a patient (MacMillian,2017).

After reading about these cases and many more, I felt there needs to be strict penalties involved. The patient's healthcare and treatment is solely dependent on the physician. The cases mentioned above involved the death of many patients. Strict penalties need to be enforced, because the Physician did not act rightfully and made the wrong decisions and engaged in illegal activities. In the past 74 cases, which doctors were disciplined, most had their licenses suspended temporarily. Nine were sanctioned at least three times by the Board. In nine other cases, the physicians surrendered their licenses for the time being to avoid investigation and possible punishment (Thompson, 2005). A physician surrendering their license should not exempt them for further investigation. It does not excuse the unethical act. If the Board, suspends a license for a Physician, I believe follow ups should be done and they should be placed on a probationary period or limits should be placed on what they can practice. A back round investigation will be helpful to investigate if the candidate has any drug or criminal activity.

-Kay

References

Glover,Scott (2016) http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/health/california-overdose-doctor-murder-sentencing/

MacMillan (2017) http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/02/02/doctor-behind-alkaline-diet-is-facing-jail-time.html

Thompson, Cheryl 2005 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39677-2005Apr9.html

Response 2

Medical malpractice is a specific subset of tort law that deals with professional negligence and could be defined as "any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient" (White, 2003).

Medical malpractice lawsuits over the years have become relatively common in the United States. The legal system however, is designed to foster resolving such issues between such parties involved without going to trial.

Before such cases go to trial however, four fundamental legal elements must be proven besides economic loss and noneconomic loss such as pain and suffering. Per Bal (2009), such includes:

• a professional duty owed to the patient
• breach of such duty
• injury caused by the breach
• resulting damages

A common example of medical negligence/ malpractice is the private physician for late Michael Jackson. The charge against Dr. Murray appears to be based on the conclusion that his "conduct demonstrated no intent to cause death to his patient, but that his prescribing and administration practices were far worse than breaches of the standard of care, and rose to the level of actionable criminal negligence" (Wood, 2010).

In summary, as technology and the demand for healthcare increases, the complexity and incidence of healthcare delivery, injuries, and adverse outcomes require a system of patient redress that is equitable, fair, economical, and just. Licensing bodies would also need to play key roles in setting standard disciplinary actions for each type of medical malpractice.

Reference:

Bal B.S. (2009). An Introduction to Medical Malpractice in the United States.467(2): 339-347. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628513/

White G.E. (2003). Tort Law in America: An Intellectual History. New York, NY: Oxford U Press; http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0208/Case-against-Michael-Jackson-s-doctor-centers-on-gross-negligence

Wood D.B. (2010). Case against Michael Jackson's doctor centers on gross negligence. Retrieved from: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0208/Case-against-Michael-Jackson-s-doctor-centers-on-gross-negligence

Response 3

In 2013, a radiology technician in Minnesota was caught stealing syringes containing fentanyl, injecting himself and replacing saline solution in tainted syringes for patient use. As a result of his act, over 45 patients contracted hepatitis C and the technician was sentenced to 39 years in prison. Unfortunately, unethical acts committed by healthcare professionals such as drug diversion continue to be a hazard especially with the current epidemic of prescription drug abuse. According to the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, approximately 6.8 million Americans use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes, of these, 300,000 are nurses. Substance abuse and addiction are examples of reasons that can lead health professionals to performing wrongful acts consequently harming patients and workers. Personally, I believe health professionals that violate ethics principals and do harm should be punished and/or terminated. When patient seek medical attention, they trust their health providers to work in their best interest and help them to get better, however, when health professionals fail to do so, it disrupts the relationship consequently hindering delivery of care and ability of patient to get well.

In order to avoid or lessen health professional wrongful acts from occurring, health care administrators and human resource managers need to be rigorous in their hiring process. Performing background checks, drug screening and references checks can help determine suitable candidates and eliminate professionals with unethical conduct. In addition, health facilities can help promote ethical behavior through audits, enforcing security, monitoring employees and providing continuous education on healthcare ethics.

Reference

New.K (2014) Preventing, Detecting, and Investigating Drug Diversion in Health Care Facilities. Retrieved from http://musiccoach.org/articles/12536-preventing-detecting-and-investigating-drug-diversion-in-health-care-facilities

The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice.Drug Diversion in Healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/Issues/Vol%208%20Issue%204/Drug%20Diversion%20in%20Healthcare_Commentary.pdf

Response 4

Hundreds of thousands of patients die each year due to medical errors (Institute of Medicine, 1999). Yet, criminal charges against physicians are uncommon. There were only about 30 cases of criminal prosecution against physicians between 1981 and 2005. One most recently publicized was the case involving Michael Jackson's physician, whom was charged with involuntary manslaughter (When Does Medical Negligence Become Criminal, n.d.). I, however believe that many harmful acts by providers should be criminally punishable.

Criminal acts by providers must, however be carefully determined in terms of what point and under what specific standards provider negligence constitutes criminal behavior. Acts that are criminally punishable should involve flagrant negligence, and attempts to conceal incriminating facts about patient care. No provider whom causes a patient's death or impairment should walk away with a slap on the wrist. Even some non-flagrant errors should attract mandatory monetary fines levied on the providers themselves, in order to discourage these types of patient outcomes. This may also save patients the hassle of having to file lawsuits.

To help with finding the right candidates, background checks for providers must be very stringent. Currently, these consist of your regular background check, initial drug testing, referrals from prior employers, and verification with medical boards to ensure the provider has no unfavorable records. Other mandatory steps are needed, including detailed recommendations from prior employers for physicians. Additionally, health facilities should have ongoing steps including routine drug testing, and annual inspections to ensure providers are in line with standards.

References

Institute Of Medicine. (1999). To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Retrieved from

http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/1999/To-Err-isHuman/To%20Err%20is%20Human%201999%20%20report%20brief.pdf

When Does Medical Negligence Become Criminal?.(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.latlaw.com/index.php/firm-news-articles/articles-2010/88-when-does-medical-negligence-become-criminal