ETHICAL CODES AND LAW

Ethical Codes and Law

Ethical Codes and Law

Introduction

For the profession of healthcare, the most crucial aspect to be considered is that laws and ethics are followed. Healthcare is a professional where there is not a chance for any mistake or any negligence on the doctor and medical staff's part, because if that happens, it can even result in the patient losing his life. Therefore it is important to realize that implementation of laws and ethics are vital for the correct working of the healthcare industry (Barry & Ohland, 2009, pp. 377).

Applied ethics also play an integral role in the professions of healthcare, business, engineering and law itself. It is studied as a course and is the pre-requisite for practicing after education for these professions. However, a lot of what is taught and practice largely depends on the society the people are living in, the culture they belong to, the way they are taught the legal principles and the actual environment where they are going to work. If we consider law and ethics as a scope, it has now widened its horizons to include instructions and principles for almost every profession prevailing in our society (Jackson, 2006, pp. 31). This is because until and unless proper laws and ethics are followed, professionals cannot ensure that fair practice will take place in the work places.

There is a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of doctors as the lives of the patients are in their hand and if they miss out on any important rule of law, they will risk the patient's life. The healthcare staff has to be very alert in particular and make sure that they perform their duties with responsibility whether it is an emergency situation or not. The key elements of good practice management need to be studied in this regard in order to formulate and analyse the necessary practices for healthcare professionals (Herring, 2006, pp. 56).

Need for ethical codes and Law

The application of laws and ethics plays a pertinent role in outlining the requirements of daily activities in the healthcare profession. A comprehensive study should be provided that incorporates training to the health professionals before they start training, to address the ethical issues and legal dilemmas they will have to go through as they move forward in their career. In the recent years, there is an increase in trend to judge the professional health occupation in terms of ethics and code of conduct (Mason & Laurie, 2005, pp. 82). This is also the reason why universities have increase the emphasis they place on ethics education. There is a strong association with application of codes and legal principles in the professional practice of health.

Historical development

There are many regulations that been present since a long time in order to regulate and govern the laws in professional health. The most important in this regard is the Code of Hammurabi (1760 BC) which is also the earliest code developed and is also the first record of regulation ...