Ethical, professional and legal regulation of medical practice

Moral or ethical codes of practice represent one of the oldest forms of medical regulation. Legislation such as the Medical Practice Act 1992 (NSW) enables regulatory bodies to create codes of practice for medical practitioners. Such codes can become an important aspect of disciplinary proceedings by providing the yardstick against which practitioners' conduct is evaluated. An important aspect of the New South Wales Board's Code of Professional Conduct 2005 is the obligation for doctors to report adverse events which reflect on the performance or conduct of colleagues. This is part of an increasing impetus to report adverse events in the interest of public safety. In the long- term this is a constructive development as it is likely to lead to improvements in identification of risks and hazards and thereby to result in better service provision and community health.     

Developments in legal and medical practice regarding the unborn child and the need to expand prenatal legal protection

Developments in legal and medical practice in the Netherlands give rise to questions regarding the legal position of the unborn child. This article provides an overview of these developments and argues--in view of developments in other countries--that current Dutch legislation regarding the unborn child is not up to date. In effect, the article challenges the idea that the actual legal protection of the unborn child under positive Dutch law can be considered proportionate, even sufficient. To support this view the author will show that abortion is not the only matter in which clarity as to the legal protection of the viable unborn child is required. This signalisation provides good cause to reconsider the Dutch perspective on the matter, thus offering a point of reference to countries with a similar interpretation of what constitutes an appropriate legal protection of the unborn child.     

A case of goodpasture-syndrome in legal medical practice (author's transl)]

Goodpasture's syndrome (GS) is a very rare diagnosis in forensic post-mortem examinations. This casereport shows, that GS should always be considered as cause of sudden natural death of young adults, if merely unusual disseminated pulmonary hemorrhages represent the essential findings at autopsy. The final diagnosis of GS is made by microscopic evidence of additional diffuse hemosiderosis of the lungs and proliferative glomerulonephritis.     

关于构建医学生法律思维模式之必要性研究

在今年的＂声音·责任＂两会代表委员座谈会上,代表委员们又一次将＂医患关系＂推上了风口浪尖。如何处理好＂医患关系＂不是单方面医务工作者的问题,但是不可否认的是医务工作者在处理医患关系中处于关键地位。追根溯源,思维决定行为。医学院校应构建医学生在未来执业领域中的法律思维模式,以便使其在将来的执业生涯中自觉践行相关法律行为。     

Pharmacy practice developments: the potential impact on pharmacists' legal liability

The practice of pharmacy has changed over recent years with a greater emphasis on the patient and the provision of patient care services. This expanded role of pharmacists as medication managers has resulted in changes to their professional responsibility and potential legal liability. Recent international case law demonstrates an increased legal liability of pharmacists in certain instances. However, pharmacists' liability in this new context in Australia is yet to be clarified.     

在司法实践中检讨中国的商事留置权

针对海事法院经常受理的港口货物仓储合同、打捞合同、海上货物运输合同中经常出现的债权人错误行使留置权的案件,对我国现行有效商事留置权相关法律进行体系研究,并对临近其他成文法国家和地区的相关法律规定进行比较法研究,分析我国商事留置权法律制度构架之缺陷,并试图提出解决方案,以期丰满该制度,使商事留置权之行使清晰明确.     

CT在肋骨骨折认定中的价值及骨折的力学分析

目的探讨在法医学鉴定中普通X线片难以确定的肋骨骨折,以CT技术加以显示的方法,并阐明肋骨骨折的力学原理。方法对17例普通X线技术显示困难的肋骨骨折行CT扫描,采用薄层平滑和高分辨率重建、表面遮盖法和多平面重建观察,确定肋骨骨折的部位、数量、形态、移位和骨痂形成情况等信息。结果17例X线平片难以确定的骨折,通过上述CT扫描和后处理重建技术,均得到满意的结果。通过骨折力学分析和影像观察,将间接暴力导致肋骨骨折的力矩分成垂直和旋转两类,从而提出垂直型和旋转型肋骨骨折的分类。结论对普通X线平片难以确定的肋骨骨折,建议采用薄层CT扫描,沿肋骨长轴多平面重建观察,结合肋骨骨折的力学原理,有助于避免将急性旋转型肋骨骨折误诊为陈旧骨折。     

The legal status of clinical and ethics policies, codes, and guidelines in medical practice and research

This article examines the legal status of "soft law" in the fields of medicine and medical research. Many areas of clinical practice and research involve complex and rapidly changing issues for which the law provides no guidance. Instead, guidance for physicians and researchers comes from what has often been called "soft law"--non-legislative, non-regulatory sources, such as ethics policy statements, codes, and guidelines from professional or quasi-governmental bodies. This article traces the evolution of these "soft law" instruments: how they are created, how they are adopted within the professional community, and how they become accepted by the courts. It studies the relationship between soft law instruments and the courts. It includes an examination of the approaches to judicial analysis used by the courts in theory and in practice. The authors then examine the jurisprudence to see how courts will adopt professional norms as the legal standard of care in some circumstances and not others. They consider the legal concerns and ethical issues surrounding the weight attached to professional practices and norms in law. The authors demonstrate how practices and policies that guide professional conduct may ultimately bear weight as norms recognizable and enforceable within the legal sphere.