Legal and Ethical Aspects of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine

by Stuart M. White , Timothy J. Baldwin

• ISBN13: 9781841102092
• ISBN10: 1841102091
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-17
• Publisher: Greenwich Medical Media

Summary

Clinical decisions in modern medical practice are increasingly influenced by ethical and legal issues, but few doctors have been formally trained in medical law and ethics, and are unsure of potential sources of accessible information, which leaves them exposed to public criticism and the threat of legal action. Perioperative medicine and critical care are, by their very nature, subjects in which issues of autonomy, dignity, consent, confidentiality, medical research, life and death decision making, and the rationing of health care resources are ever-present. This book provides a straightforward but comprehensive one-stop reference and should be essential reading for all medical and allied health care professionals who encounter ethicolegal problems during their management of patients.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction	1	(4)
2. An introduction to the UK legal system	5	(8)
3. An introduction to medical ethics	13	(20)
4. Rights, and the Human Rights Act, 1998	33	(16)
5. Consent	49	(24)
6. Negligence	73	(16)
7. Confidentiality, and access to medical records	89	(18)
8. Abortion	107	(12)
9. Products liability	119	(8)
10. Research	127	(14)
11. Death and organ procurement	141	(26)
12. Professional regulation	167	(14)
13. Resource allocation	181	(10)
Appendix: Important legal cases	191	(22)
Index	213