La responsabilidad jurídica del médico, conceptos que se debaten entre dos ciencias / The Physician's Legal Responsibility, Debatable Concepts between two Sciences

La exigencia de responsabilidad jurídica a los profesionales de la salud ha experimentado, a pesar de su antigüedad, un auge en las sociedades contemporáneas. En el artículo se reflexiona sobre conceptos médicos y jurídicos que permitan clarificar los presupuestos de intervención del Derecho en el ámbito de la Medicina, en función de la determinación de la responsabilidad médica jurídicamente relevante(AU)

In spite of being demanded since long ago, legal responsibility from health professionals has experienced a boom in contemporary societies. This article reflects on medical and legal concepts that make it possible to clarify the assumptions for involving law in the field of medicine, based on the determination of legally relevant medical responsibility(AU)

"Loss of situation awareness" by medical staff: reflecting on the moral and legal status of a psychological concept.

This article examines the emergence of "accurate situation awareness (SA)" as a legal and moral standard for judging professional negligence in medicine. It argues that SA constitutes a status, an outcome resulting from the confluence of a wide array of factors, some originating inside and others outside the agent. SA does not connote an action, a practice, a role, a task, a virtue, or a disposition--the familiar objects of moral and legal appraisal. The argument contends that invoking SA becomes problematic when its use broadens to include professional or legally appraisable norms for behaviour, which expect a certain state of awareness from practitioners.

Infection prevention and control standards in assisted living facilities: are residents' needs being met?

BACKGROUND: Assisted living facilities (ALFs) provide housing and care to persons unable to live independently, and who often have increasing medical needs. Disease outbreaks illustrate challenges of maintaining adequate resident protections in these facilities. OBJECTIVES: Describe current state laws on assisted living admissions criteria, medical oversight, medication administration, vaccination requirements, and standards for infection control training. METHODS: We abstracted laws and regulations governing assisted living facilities for the 50 states using a structured abstraction tool. Selected characteristics were compared according to the time period in which the regulation took effect. Selected state health departments were queried regarding outbreaks identified in assisted living facilities. RESULTS: Of the 50 states, 84% specify health-based admissions criteria to assisted living facilities; 60% require licensed health care professionals to oversee medical care; 88% specifically allow subcontracting with outside entities to provide routine medical services onsite; 64% address medication administration by assisted living facility staff; 54% specify requirements for some form of initial infection control training for all staff; 50% require reporting of disease outbreaks to the health department; 18% specify requirements to offer or require vaccines to staff; 30% specify requirements to offer or require vaccines to residents. Twelve states identified approximately 1600 outbreaks from 2010 to 2013, with influenza or norovirus infections predominating. CONCLUSIONS: There is wide variation in how assisted living facilities are regulated in the United States. States may wish to consider regulatory changes that ensure safe health care delivery, and minimize risks of infections, outbreaks of disease, and other forms of harm among assisted living residents.

[Code of civil procedure for medical workers--evidence of fact finding and efficacy of judgment].

For a fair trial, fact finding shall certainly be based on evidence, and examination of evidence is performed using means, such as documentary evidence, validity, examination, and expert opinion. In fact finding, in order to eliminate a judge's arbitrariness and to secure justice, we have to make the process of fact finding rational and objective. For this reason, the court must recognize the fact used as the foundation of judgment based on the presented proof on the basis of participation of both parties concerned. As an effect of the judgment, there ensure res judicata and power of execution. They serve as a binding force to a next trial.

[Medical-social aspects of medical staff migration]. / Aspecte medico-sociale ale migratiei personalului medical.

The migration of the medical staff represents an increasingly worring reason for romanian health policy-makers. According to the Ministry of Health, in 2009 year, the human resources indicators pointed out 26.5 physicians/ 10,000 inhabitants (whereas the European Union average was 32.8) and 60.4 nurses and midwives (whereas the European Union average was 108.5). Between 2007-2010, over 9000 physicians requested professional certificates in order to practice abroad and the majority have left the country. This phenomenon is related to the Romania's entrance in European Union and it is supposed to continue in the coming years. The direct consequences of the migration of the medical staff consist of significant differences between the country's regions in the health workforce distribution, the most affected by the critical shortage of health service providers being the North-Eastern region, especially in rural area. In order to limit the migration phenomenon, the Ministry of Health elaborated some strategies and workforce policies on medium and long-term, but the results will be difficult to assess.

Physician resource planning in Canada: the need for a stronger behavioural foundation.

An effective solution to the problem of access to physician services in Canada must extend beyond an over-exclusive focus on the number of providers to consider the behaviour of physicians in greater depth. The amount of labour and associated services supplied by physicians depends importantly on their attitudes regarding work, on practice and non-practice income opportunities, and on the policy environment in which they practise. Hence, the amount of labour supplied by a given stock of physicians can change over time. Only by considering the full range of factors that affect the labour supply of physicians can we effectively plan for physician resources.

Pathologising white male sexuality in late nineteenth-century Australia through the medical prism of excess and constraint.

This paper will explore the constructions of white male sexuality in late nineteenth-century Australia by the medical profession. In a period where female sexuality was always suspect, male sexuality, too, was brought into question, and the male body was increasingly constructed as vulnerable to sexual excess and sexual pathology. If male sexuality was to be active and dynamic, this could readily go too far, rendering men merely a slip away from deviance. Here, I will consider these notions of excess and constraint through an examination of sexual norms and perceived perversions, including sexual excess, sodomy and masturbation.