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USLegal Newsletter January 2019 – Doctors, Patients, and the Law

A new federal law which took effect this month now requires hospitals to post prices online for the standard medical procedures they perform. The goal is to make health care costs more transparent and to help patients to become more educated consumers when making decisions regarding their medical treatment. In addition, there are requirements for hospitals to give patients greater access to their medical records electronically.

Here is a brief overview of laws affecting the physician-patient relationship.

A physician is a doctor of medicine who is legally licensed to practice medicine.  A physician diagnoses and treats physical diseases and injuries.

Generally, the power to regulate the practice of medicine is vested in the state legislatures.  However, the federal government has power to make laws regulating medical practitioners as long as they are constitutional.

A physician-patient relationship is essential to ensure high quality health care in disease diagnosis and treatment.  The relationship thus arising between a physician and patient creates a duty on the part of the physician to exercise proper care.  For effective treatment, a patient must have confidence in his/her physician.  A physician-patient relationship is a legal prerequisite to a medical malpractice cause of action.  Generally, a physician-patient relationship is characterized as a contractual one.  The physician-patient relationship is a fiduciary in nature.  The relation is based on trust and confidence.  In the U.S. the communication between a physician and a patient is amply protected.  All the U.S. states have enacted statutes protecting patients from compulsory disclosure of confidential communications between a patient and physician.

All types of medical treatment require a patient’s consent that should be voluntarily made, after the physician gives the patient information about treatment.  However, when a patient is mentally incapable of understanding the treatment and make a decision, a physician can provide treatment that is beneficial to the patient.  Failure of a physician to adequately disclose the risks and alternatives of a proposed diagnostic or surgery constitutes claims for assault and battery.

A physician is supposed to take reasonable care and treat the patient with due diligence.  A physician will be answerable for an injury to his/her patient resulting from want of the requisite knowledge and skill.  A physician must exercise reasonable and ordinary care, skill, and diligence as physicians and surgeons in similar communities and surroundings engaged in the same general line of practice ordinarily exercise in like cases.  However, a physician is not liable for want of the highest degree of skill.

Even though, the relationship between a physician and patient is contractual, the remedial action is for negligence when a physician misdiagnosed or mal-administered treatment.  Criminal sanctions can also be provided against medical personnel for medical acts that result in harm to patients.  When a physician prescribed or furnished drugs illegally to a patient with malicious intentions s/he can be criminally liable for the offense.  Mistreatment of mentally disordered patients will also constitute a crime under state statutes.

Click here to learn more about doctors, patients, and the law.

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Legal Definitions

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is the failure of a medical professional to follow the accepted standards of practice of his or her profession, resulting in harm to the patient. Usually, proof of failure to comply with accepted standards of medical practice requires the testimony of someone with expertise in the area of medical practice. Some states have special evidentiary rules applicable to malpractice claims. More

For more legal definitions, please visit our free online legal dictionary at http://www.uslegalforms.com/legaldefinitions/.