Abstract
Hospitals are not isolated islands, and physicians are not foreign diplomats with legal immunity. Medicine must be practiced within the framework of the law of the United States and of the state in which the patient, physician, and hospital are located. All health care facilities are bound by state regulations, by the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAH) if they are so accredited, and by their own internal bylaws and policies. Public facilities, in addition, must assure that those human rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution are afforded to all patients. Perhaps the most important thing for patients and their advocates to realize is that few doctors and nurses have a sophisticated understanding of what the law is, and often when they think they know the law, they have it wrong. Readers of this book will almost certainly know more about the law than anyone a patient is likely to encounter in a health care facility, HMO, or doctor’s office.
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Notes
E.g., Darling v. Charlestown Community Memorial Hospital, 33 Ill. ad 326, 211 N.E.2d 253 (1965), cert. denied, 383 U.S. 946 (1966); Steeves v. U.S., 294 F. Supp. 446 (1968); Elam v. College Park Hospital, 183 Cal. Rptr. 156, 132 Cal. App. 3d 332 (1982).
Worthington & Silver, Regulation of Quality of Care in Hospitals: The Need for Change, 35 Law & Contemp. Probs. 305, 309 (1970).
See generally Havighurst, Regulation of Health Facilities and Services by Certificate of Need, 59 Va. L. Rev. 1143, 1144 (1973); and C. Havighurst, ed., Regulating Health Facilities Construction (Washington, DC.: American Enterprise Institute, 1974).
Bogdanich, “Prized by Hospitals, Accreditation Hides Perils Patients Face,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 12, 1988, at 10.
Pinkney, “Newspaper Story Slamming Joint Commission Inaccurate and Unfair, Supporters Say,” American Medical News, Oct. 28, 1988, at 12.
State v. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, 470 So. 2d 169, 177-78 (La. 1985); and see Jost, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals: Private Regulation of Health Care and the Public Interest, 24 B.C.L. Rev. 835 (1983). 7. New York Times, Jan. 9, 1973, at 1.
Gaylin, “The Patient’s Bill of Rights,” Saturday Review of Science, Mar. 1973, at 22.
“Citizen Bill of Hospital Rights,” Pennsylvania Insurance Dept., Harrisburg, Pa. (Apr. 1973); partially reprinted in Quinn & Somers, The Patient’s Bill of Rights, 22 Nursing Outlook 240, 241(1974).
Sandriff, “Bill of Rights Makes Honesty Easier,” RN, Aug. 1978, at 43.
E.g., Fonda v. St. Paul City Ry., 71 Minn. 438, 74 N.W. 166 (1898).
E.g., supra note 1; and Stone v. Proctor, 259 N.C. 633,131 S.E.2d 297 (1963); Pederson v. Dumouchel, 72 Wash. 2d 73, 431 P.2d 973 (1967); Magana v. Elie, 108 Ill. App. 3d 1028, 439 N. E. 2d 1319 (1982); Hahn v. Suburban Hospital Assoc., 461 A.2d 7 (Md. Ct. App. 1983).
Kapuschinsky v. United States, 248 F. Supp. 732 (D.S.C. 1966); Jackson v. Power, 743 P.2d 1376 (Alaska 1987).
Steeves v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 446 (1968).
Gonzales v. Nork, No. 228566, slip op. at 194 (Super. Ct. Cal. Nov. 19, 1973), rev’d and remanded on other grounds, 60 Cal. App. 3d. 728, 131 Cal. Rptr. 717 (1976), vacated, 143 Cal. Rptr. 240, 573 P.2d 458 (1978). Portions of this opinion are reprinted in S. Law & S. Polan, Pain and Profit (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), at 215.
Purcell v. Zimbelman, 18 Ariz. App. 75, 500 P.2d 335, 341, (1972); see also Joiner v. Mitchell Cty. Hospital Authority, 125 Ga. App. 1, 186 S.E.2d 307 (1971), aff’d, 189 S.E.2d 412 (1972).
Purcell v. Zimbelman, 18 Ariz. App. 75, 500 P.2d 335,341, (1972); see also Joiner v. Mitchell Cty. Hospital Authority, 125 Ga. App. 1, 186 S.E.2d 307 (1971), affd, 189 S.E.2d 412 (1972).
Favalora v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 144 So. 2d 544 (La. Ct. App. 1962).
Helman v. Sacred Heart Hospital, 62 Wash. 2d 136, 381 P.2d 605. (1963). See also Rosencranz & Larvey, Treating Patients with Communicable Diseases, 32 St. Louis U.L.J. 75 (1987).
Rose v. Hakin, 335 F. Supp. 1221 (D.D.C., 1971).
Valentine v. Societe Francaise De Bienfaisance Mutuelle de Los Angeles, 76 Cal. App. 2d 1, 172 P.2d 359 (1946); Duling v. Bluefield Sanitarium, Inc., 149 W. Va. 567,142 S.E.2d 754 (1965). A hospital may also be liable for negligence in connection with the preparation, storage, or dispensing of medications. See Ball Memorial Hospital v. Freeman, 245 Ind. 71, 196 N.E.2d 274 (1964).
Goff v. Doctors General Hospital of San Jose, 333 P.2d 29 (Cal. App. 1958); and Darling, supra note 1.
Alden v. Providence Hospital, 127 U.S. App. D.C. 214, 382 F.2d 163 (1963).
St. John’s Hospital & School of Nursing, Inc. v. Chapman, 434 P. 2d 160 (Okla. 1967).
C. E. Rosenberg, The Care of Strangers (New York: Basic Books, 1987), at 117.
Id.
E.g., Levin, “Hospitals Pitch Harder for Patients,” New York Times, May 10, 1987, at Bl.
President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedicai and Behavioral Research, Making Health Care Decisions (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1982).
MacStravic, The Patient as Partner: A Competitive Strategy in Health Care Marketing, 33 Health & Hospital Services Admin. 15 (1988).
E.g., Douma, Informed Patients and Physician Satisfaction, 243 JAMA 2168 (1980); and see J. Katz, The Silent World of Doctor and Patient (New York: Free Press, 1984).
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© 1992 George J. Annas and the American Civil Liberties Union
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Annas, G.J. (1992). Rules Hospitals Must Follow. In: The Rights of Patients. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0397-1_3
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