Legal Medicine

Part One: Introduction. Legal Medicine: Historical Roots and Current Status. Part Two: Legal Aspects of Health Care. Section I: Legal Process and Precepts. American Legal and Judicial System. Competency and Capacity: A Primer. Contracts. Agency and Partnership. Civil Trials. Alternate Dispute Resolution in Health Care. Selected Health Care Statutory Provisions. Section II: Regulation of Medical Practice. Education and Licensure. Peer Review, Disciplining, Hearings and Appeal. Section III: Professional Medical Liability. Medical Malpractice and the Physician Defendant. Medical Testimony and the Expert Witness. Liability of Health Care Entities for Negligent Care. Medical Product Liability. Antitrust. Crimes Against and By Health Care Providers and Criminal Procedures. Countersuits By Health Care Providers. Medical Liability Insurance. Risk Management. Part Three: Medical Legal and Ethical Encounters. Section I: Physicians and Patients. Physician-Patient Relationship. Consent to and Refusal of Medical Treatment. Medical Records and Disclosure About Patients. Telephone Contract and Counselling. Section II: Ethical-Legal Issues in Medicine. Fetal Interests. Organ Donation and Transplantation. The Process of Dying. Physician-Assisted Suicide. Section III: Care of Special Patients. Reproduction Patients. Children as Patients. Domestic Violence Patients. Geriatric Patients. Oncology Patients. Brain Injured Patients. Patients with HIV Infection and AIDS. Impaired and Disabled Patients. Pain Management. Occupational Health Law. Sports Medicine. Section IV: Forensic Science and Medicine. Forensic Use of Medical Information. Forensic Pathology. Psychiatric Patients and Forensic Psychiatry. Part Four: Legislative and Business Aspects of Medicine. Section I: Medical Practice Finance and Management. Practice Organizations and Joint Venture. Co-Providers and Institutional Practice. Cost Containment and Quality in Managed Care. Physician as an Employer. Section II: Health Care Industry. Health Professionals and Regulated Industry. Telemedicine. Research and Experimentation. Glossary.