Ethical and Legal Implications of Medical Errors - Essay Example

Ethical and Legal Implications of Medical Errors Introduction Medical practices and healthcare provision are critical aspects of individual and social welfare. Many healthcare providers display expertise in their line of production, although there are reported cases of errors in the medical practice. Medical errors occur at various levels of medical and health care practice, with most of these errors being accidental as opposed to intentional. Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) are common, with hospitals and healthcare facilities being solely responsible for the underlying errors and/or practices that lead to their occurrence within the caregiving process.

Ethical ImplicationsCodes of conduct at place of work are fundamental observe. Moral values of care givers hold it that instances of errors should be on the minimal possible. This further gives an insight into what healthcare providers consider being right or wrong. Hospital Acquired Infections are crucial to account for. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are regarded as places where healthcare issues are addressed. As a result, Hospital Acquired Infections to some extent fails to constitute ethical occurrences.

Nurses, doctors and all medical professionals should come up with ways that alleviate or significantly minimize Hospital Acquired Infections (Katharine, 2005). Rules of practice should be highly observed so that all stakeholders do not view Hospital Acquired Infections as the result of laxity.Legal ImplicationsPatients are entitled to quality and effectiveness healthcare. All responsible parties in that pursuit should ensure that the underlying rights and freedoms are observed. Failure to do so may highly attract lawsuits between the patients and the healthcare providers.

Medical errors affect different patients in different ways, and so are the legal processes that different patients will result to in times of medical errors like Hospital Acquired Infections(Muralidhar &Muralidhar, 2007). The legal structure operates on proves,but not necessarily what the lawsuit parties individually know. For this reason, prove of conditions that exacerbate the occurrence of Hospital Acquired Infections is highly likely to favor patients, thereby placing the healthcare sector and healthcare providers in jeopardy of service.

ReferencesKatharine,S. (2005). Ethical Issues Related To Health Care: The Older Adult's Perspective.Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 31(2), 32-9.Muralidhar, V. &Muralidhar, S. (2007). Hospital Acquired Infections: Power Strategies for Clinical Practice. Michigan, Anshan.