Medical and Legal Issues

Most Litigated Cases  Personnel Issues  Driving Liability  Medical Malpractice  Patient Care

Personnel Issues  Hiring practices  Recruitment, application, interview  Harassment and Discrimination  Sexual harassment, verbal harassment, hostile work environment  Promotional issues  Improper discipline

Driving Liability  Speed  Lack of seatbelt use  Collisions  Unqualified drivers

Medical Malpractice  Abandonment  Dropping patients  Dead equipment problems  Missed intubations

Patient Care  Injuring patients  Medications issues  Airway management problems  Failure to follow protocols

Documentation – Why document?  Creates a legal medical record  Transmits information to other providers  Refreshes memory  Best legal protection

Documentation – A complete report  Chief complaint  Current and past pertinent medical history  Current Medications  Allergies  Physical assessment  Vitals  Treatment & response  Transfer of care  Physician Contact  Refusals

Documentation – A defensible report  Content  Relevant facts  Pertinent negatives  Factual  Accurate  Objective  Complete  Timely

Documentation – Common Issues  Deficiency of medical information  Discrepancies between agency records  Omissions  Treatments not documented  Patient response  Better, worse or died  Unapproved abbreviations  Undocumented information  Incorrect or erroneous information

Patient Consent  Types of consent  Competence and capacity  Assessing capacity  Refusals

Ethical Behavior  Ethics vs. morals  Code of conduct  Ethical rules

Reducing Liability  Compassion  Communication  Competence  Documentation  Standard of care  Ensure confidentiality