Healthcare today is governed by various rules and regulations that have been formed to ensure that patients get the best healthcare services in their healthcare institution of choice. These rules and regulations form legal barriers in the healthcare profession that if breached would lead to a lawsuit and further consequences (Pozgar, 2018). These rules are made law by government and healthcare institutions are expected to adhere to them or face legal consequences. The St. Martha General Hospital is a healthcare institution that faces legal consequence due to non-adherence to a federal healthcare law.
In June 2016 the federal government made medically assisted dying legal as a way to relief patients’ of suffering. The St. Martha General Hospital has forbidden the application of this law within the healthcare institution. In refusing to adhere to this law the St. Martha General Hospital management face the legal issue of compliance to a federal statute.
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The medically assisted dying law passed by the federal government was put into place to cater for the welfare of patients experiencing traumatic injuries or illnesses with no hope of recovery and in pain to alleviate their suffering. The St. Martha General Hospital’s policy of “protecting life until the end” therefore facilitates this suffering which is illegal according to the law.
This is because the hospital facilitate a scenario whereby a nurse attending to a patient who has experienced a traumatic car accident for instance and is in that moment paralyzed on one side of their body and is constantly in pain. And the nurse under orders by the institution’s management continues to maintain the patient in this bad state despite their unwillingness to remain so as they prolong the patient’s suffering towards an inevitable end.
This would be a major breach of the compliance law passed by the federal government that could lead to a law suit based on the imposing of the institution’s beliefs to an unwilling patient and thus neglecting their needs and thus causing them physical and emotional pain.
Reference
Pozgar, G. D. (2018). Legal aspects of health care administration . Jones & Bartlett Learning.
