Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare

Book excerpt: Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare is a definitive resource for healthcare students and professionals in nursing, medicine, and the allied health sciences, providing a comprehensive overview and exploration of today's ethical and legal landscape in healthcare delivery. The textbook presents, discusses, and analyzes the history of healthcare ethics, key concepts and intellectual traditions, the four principles of biomedical ethics, the history of legal systems, tort law and negligence, landmark court decisions and legislation in the context of healthcare ethics, and issues related to HIPAA, informed consent, patient rights and responsibilities, and end-of-life decision-making. Later chapters investigate healthcare issues in contemporary society, including the Medicare and Medicaid systems, health disparities/health inequities, bias in healthcare delivery, corporate governance, electronic health records, and gene editing and genetic technologies. The textbook concludes with an examination of global challenges and the future of healthcare. Each chapter of Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare features real-world applications including case studies, discussion questions, "do-it-yourself ethicist" exercises, and "ethics as a doctrine of action" exercises. Overall, Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare provides healthcare students and professionals with the critical information needed to navigate the myriad ethical and legal issues that inform and influence modern healthcare. David Lemberg, M.S., D.C., is associate faculty professor in the School of Health and Human Services at National University. He is a bioethicist and serves as a community member on the Biomedical Ethics Committee of a large medical center in the greater San Diego area. Dr. Lemberg received his M.S. degree in bioethics from Albany Medical College and his D.C. degree from New York Chiropractic College. He maintained a private practice in New York City for more than 20 years. Dr. Lemberg has provided expert commentary for articles in The New York Times, The Translational Scientist, and Popular Science.