Clinical Law for Clinical Practice

Clinicians must practice medicine in conformity with regulatory requirements. That is the daily challenge, and those requirements have been founded on medical law.

This book describes clinical law. A series of 62 brief commentaries are described, each setting out an important clinical legal case decided in an English court. The clinical relevance of the judgement is explained, together with how it should influence the care of the patient. Clinical readers are given skeleton guidance by their regulators, but almost no specific tuition as to how to apply it. This book sets out how clinical law has been applied in numerous cases, and thus provides guidance which is directly applicable to every clinician?s practice in the United Kingdom.

Although most court cases concentrate on the medical aspects of patients? care, the common currencies within clinical law touch on all clinical professions. Doctors, physiotherapists and others take consent every day; pharmacists must protect confidentiality; speech therapists consider the capacity of their patients; and nurses wrestle with discussions relating to whether their patients wish to be resuscitated

The book is directed at members of the eight regulated clinical professions, the lawyers who deal with disputes, and all potential patients.

About the Author

Robert Wheeler, RCS MS LLB(Hons) LLM is a Consultant Neonatal and Paediatric Surgeon. He is the Associate Medical Director for the Department of Clinical Law, University Hospital of Southampton, Southampton Hampshire, England and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton.

https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/HealthProfessionals/Clinical-law-updates/Clinicallawupdates.aspx

Foreword by Sir Jonathan Montgomery. 1. Adults Who Refuse Blood. 2. Discussing the Prospects of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. 3. What Should Be Disclosed When Seeking Consent. 4. Deprivation in Essex. 5. The First Glimpse of a Duty to Warn? 6. Can a Patient Choose Her Surgeon? 7. Sentiments. 8. Unwise Decisions. 9. Consulting Relatives. 10. Doctrine of Double Effect. 11. Needle Phobia. 12. Candid over Complications. 13. Examining Patients with Their Consent. 14. Covert Treatment. 15. Can Blood Be Compulsorily Administered under the Mental Health Act 1983? 16. Genetic Confidentiality. 17. Refusing Hospital Discharge. 18. Consent for a Cannula. 19. Changing Direction in Severe Anorexia. 20. Be Informed; Then Disclose. 21. Withdrawing Treatment in a Young Man. 22. The Value of Going to Court. 23. Articulating Best Interests. 24. Loyal Friends. 25. Apply to Court. 26. Disclosing the Miniscule Risk When Seeking Consent. 27. Obtaining Consent. 28. Deprivation of Liberty: The Story So Far. 29. Falling from Hospital Property. 30. Gross Negligence Manslaughter: Perhaps Better, 'Betrayal of Trust'? 31. Interpretation. 32. A Narrow Dispute. 33. A Right to Be Told. 34. 'But All Life Is an Experiment'. 35. Avoid Discouraging Patients from Waiting to Be Treated. 36. Mixed Messages. 37. It Is for Clinicians to Indentify Foreseeable Risks. 38. Separating Twins. 39. Body Modification. 40. Seeking the Approval of a Court for Paternity Testing. 41. Children Refusing Treatment. 42. Can We Rely on Our Advance Decisions? 43. Is There a Role for 'Next of Kin'? 44. Preaching to Patients. 45. Deceiving Patients. 46. Determining Incapacity. 47. Reasons for Refusing Blood. 48. Justifying the Termination of a Pregnanacy. 49.The Feasibility of a Covert Caesarean Section. 50. Communicating Risk: Words or Numbers? 51. Stark Compulsion in Grave Circumstances. 52. Going to Court Too Soon. 53. Best Interests in the Absence of Suffering. 54. Patients Value Candour. 55. Informed Consent and Informed Dissent: Two Sides of a Coin? 56. Parental Consent for Their Child's Deprivation of Liberty. 57. Vulnerable with Capacity. 58. Compulsory Treatment for Diabetes. 59. Approving Palliation. 60. Acquiescence; Not Consent. 61. Making Clinical Decisions. 62. ABC: A Duty to Balance Conflicting Interests.

Robert Wheeler, RCS MS LLB(Hons) LLM is a Consultant Neonatal and Paediatric Surgeon. He is the Associate Medical Director for the Department of Clinical Law, University Hospital of Southampton, Southampton Hampshire, England and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton.

https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/HealthProfessionals/Clinical-law-updates/Clinicallawupdates.aspx