Institute for Ethics
UNM's Health Sciences Center
Advancing Ethics Education, Service, and Scholarship
Legal Competencies
Licensing and Medical Malpractice
-
Be able to determine what conduct might subject a licensed
physician to discipline by the state licensing board
-
Know the various ways licensed physicians can work with
other licensed health care professionals, and unlicensed alternative
healers, to provide care for patients, and understand the legal limitations
on practice with unlicensed practitioners
-
Understand the legal consequences of accreditation of health
care institutions
-
Understand the basic law of medical malpractice, and the
process through which malpractice claims are adjudicated
Participation in the Litigation Process
-
Understand the role of the professional medical witness in a
judicial proceeding, and be able to participate as a witness
-
Understand the role of the discovery process (and especially
the use of depositions) in medical litigation
Medical Information
-
Understand the legal obligation of obtaining informed
consent and be able to determine what information should be provided to
patients, and in what form the information should be provided, before
consent is obtained for any therapeutic intervention
-
Know what information encountered in medical practice must
be maintained in confidence, and what information (such as incidents of
suspected child abuse or infectious diseases) must be reported, and know how
to make the appropriate reports
The Physician as Contractor, Employee, and Entrepreneur
-
Understand what "staff privileges" are, how a physician is
granted staff privileges, and how an institution can remove staff privileges
-
Possess an understanding of the consequences of practicing
within different kinds of corporate structures, and know the legal
obligations imposed on physicians in for-profit and not-for-profit
enterprises
-
Be able to read and understand the common legal clauses in
manage care contracts, and understand their significance
-
Understand what constitutes "false claims," fraud and abuse,
rebates and kickbacks for purposes of federal and state criminal and civil
laws.
-
Understand what constitutes a self-referral prohibited by
federal law
-
Understand the role of utilization review (including
pre-approval) in managed care and other private health plans, and understand
the physician’s obligation to challenge inappropriate utilization decisions,
and the process for lodging such challenges
Issues in Bioethics
-
Be able to apply the legal definition of death
-
Understand the special consent requirements involved in
providing abortion and other reproductive services
-
Be able to evaluate the capacity of a patient to consent to
(or refuse to consent to) treatment
-
Be able to evaluate the role that a minor should play in
determining what treatment that minor should be provided
-
Know the legal status of physician assisted death, and
understand the arguments surrounding that issue well enough to participate
in the public debate on its propriety
-
Know the process that must be followed when any treatment
also may constitute research involving human subjects
Participation in the Public Debate on Health Care
-
Understand the basic principles underlying the Medicaid and
Medicare programs, and be able to participate in the national debate over
these programs and health cost and access generally
-
Participate in the debate over medical malpractice law
reform, and tort reform generally
-
Understand the role of the Health Policy Commission,
professional medical advocacy groups, and the state and federal governments,
in establishing health policy, and know how to participate in the national
debate on health policy
Developed by the University of New Mexico Health Sciences
Ethics Program and the University of New Mexico School of Law. Please send
questions or comments to
ethics@salud.unm.edu.
