Legal implications and governance duties of healthcare administrators

Physician-Patient and Hospital-Patient Relationships

The importance of the physician-patient and hospital-patient relationships

There exists a quite recommendable potential in the alliance between a patient and a physician. A patient, who puts trust in the care of a physician, establishes moral responsibilities that are weighty and definite. When the patient and the physician work together, the possibility of pursuing intervention comes into place, and the health and quality life of the patient is bound to improve. Trust is very essential and critical in the bond between the patient and the physician in the process of diagnosis and therapy.

How contract principle and breach of warranty apply to the health care setting

In the healthcare setting, legal responsibilities to break discretion may result in difficult choices. The physician has the ethical responsibility of following the law but must know how to scale this with the responsibility to the patient. It is very important to between the confidence of the patient and the responsibility of the physician to the public individuals at risk (Mengel, Holleman, & Fields, 2007).

Four (4) elements of proof necessary for a plaintiff to prove negligence

In order for a patient to recover from damage in the care of a doctor, they are supposed to provide proof all the four aspects of medical negligence relating to duty, breach of duty, cause in fact, and proximate cause.

Duty

The impact of some cases of negligence relies on whether or not the defendant owed an obligation to the plaintiff. Such obligations come into place when the rule of law understands the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. As a result of this relationship, the defendant has the responsibility of acting in a specified manner to the plaintiff. In most cases, it is a judge and not a jury who determines whether or not the defendant owes a duty of care to the plaintiff (Giesen, 2008).

Breach of Duty

The defendant is responsible for negligence if the defendant breaks the duty that the plaintiff is owed by the defendant. A defendant breaks such a duty by not exercising sensible care in fulfilling the responsibility. Contrary to the question of whether a duty exists or not, the concern of a defendant breaching the responsibility of caring is decided upon by a jury (Giesen, 2008).

Cause in Fact

Regarding the traditional law relating to cases of negligence, a plaintiff must prove to the law that indeed it is the actions of the defendant that resulted in the injury of the plaintiff. In most cases, this is referred to as 'but-for' causation (Pozgar, 2013).

Proximate Cause

Proximate cause is closely related to the scope of the responsibility of the defendant in a negligence case. A case of negligence is only accountable for the damages caused by the actions of the plaintiff. In a case where the defendant has caused damage outside the responsibility scope, it becomes very difficult for the plaintiff to provide evidence to the court that the actions of the defendant were the proximate cause of the damages of the plaintiff (Lemmens, 2006).

Damages

A plaintiff in a case of negligence must legally prove recognized harm, which in many cases occurs as physical injury to either property or person. The fact that the defendant could not provide reasonable care is not enough (Subotsky, Bewley & Crowe, 2010).

Functions and responsibilities of the governing board of a health care corporation

The governing board of hospitals should be very active in observing quality activities of management. This board is supposed to conjunction with the leadership of hospitals and medical staff. In order to achieve successful qualities in management, commitment of the board is vital to support the organization's quality mission clearly. The transformation begins with board education. The members of the board should be first introduced to the principles, techniques, and tools of quality improvement continuously. They should have knowledge of the customer's orientation for continuous improvement of quality and functions of the board. This ensures that the needs of the customers are met by listening to their voice and enacting them into the quality values of the hospital. They should understand the aspect of internal and external customer with how ignoring the needs of the customers have significance on perpetual quality and the efficiency of the hospital (Pozgar, 2013).

Although members of the board will not be using the techniques and tools for continuous improvement of quality personally, they should be made to understand the tools are and the way the medical staff of the hospital makes use of them in improving the performance. Benchmarking is an important tool that the board must know how to use properly. It has a very significant impact on the quality of performance. Making use of comparative data is useful in identifying areas of the problem and potential improvement areas should also be a key priority for the board. Similarly, make the board understand the guidelines of clinical practice being established by societies of medical professionals. The board is supposed to motivate and encourage the use of guidelines of practice for improving and examining the quality of patient care (Lemmens, 2006).