Health Care

Ethical and Legal Issues in Health Care

Ethical and Legal Issues in Health Care

Introduction

The health care industry is one of the largest industries in the United Kingdom, which provides around 14.3 million jobs to unemployed and it is also considered as one of the fastest growing occupation in the United Kingdom. Ethical and legal aspects in medical practice are gaining attention with the passage of time. Various ethical and legal issues raised by the new medical advances have provoked many debates among the various medical professionals and also in other fields of life. Not only in health care. The legal and medical aspects are gaining concern in all disciplines such as lawyers, philosophers, sociologists and the mass media at large.

Over the years various programs such as end of life care and women's health have attracted the attention of many researchers to study the ethical, legal and social issues. Studies have stated that people who work in health care have to deal with ethical and legal issues on daily basis and these issues are influenced by the society and the various others legislations.

The case is about a person Bob, who is infected with HIV positive. He is married to Sue and she is pregnant. The doctor wants Bob to inform his wife and to tell her to come for checkup so that he can check the health of his baby. Bob refuses to tell Sue and also informs the doctor not to inform Sue without his permission and consent. (Ellis & Kidd, 2000, pp. 26).

Discussion

Over the years, medical ethics have been developed into a defined framework, which acts a bridge between the medical treatment and the bedside. Medical; ethics have devised guidelines that helps the doctors in identifying and resolving ethical; problems that may occur during medical practice. Along with ethical and moral obligations, doctors are also obliged to follow certain laws and legal regulations that form the legal framework of the medical practice. With the advancement in medical technology, legal and ethical considerations are an essential and significant part of health and medical care. The ethical and legal aspects are applicable in all areas of medical care and they both have unique parameters and distinct focus (Emson, 1988, pp. 89).

It can be stated that media, internet and the patients are providing the general public a wide range of information regarding the legal and ethical issues prevailing in the health care industry. The changing trends along with the human rights act, has bought all the ethical and legal issues in the limelight in front of the public. Due to the rapid changes and the extensive research have forced that both the doctors and the patients should be engaged in the decision making and should try to protect the society on the whole from all kinds of harm and injury.

Interaction of law and ethics in medical practice

Despite of the fact that both law and ethics are quite different from each other, they overlap each other in many ways and in various ...