Posted: May 1st, 2025

Healthcare Law and Ethics

Instructions

This assignment supports the following unit learning outcomes:

Develop an understanding of how state and federal regulations affect healthcare business decisions.

Demonstrate skills in solving ethical dilemmas within the rule of law in healthcare business examples.

Improving both oral and writing skills is of paramount importance in understanding the legal and ethical issues that students will face in the healthcare setting.

• Research an assigned legal case study.
• Case: Gonzales vs. Carhart, 127 S.Ct. 1610, 550 U.S. 124 (2007)

Document:

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/550/124.htmlLinks to an external site.

After your research is completed, submit a typed brief of the case in APA format.

The brief does not have to be longer than two pages in length and should follow this format:

Each case is given a title that signals the type of case about to be reviewed.

Case citation. A case citation describes the identity of the parties in the case, the text in which the case can be found, and the year in which the case was decided. For example: Boulia v. Superior Court (Glenchur), 225 Cal. Rptr. 297 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986).

Boulia v. Superior Court (Glenchur) – Identifies the basic parties involved in the lawsuit.

225 Cal. Rptr. 297 – Identifies the case as being reported in volume 225 of the California Reporter at page 297.

Ct. App. 1986 – Identifies the case as being decided in the California Court of Appeal in 1986.

• A review of the details of the case. These should be summarized in clear, concise, chronological statements and be numerically ordered. Only the major facts, important to the issues in the case, should be included.

The issues discussed in any given case are selected for review on the basis of medical and legal pertinence to the health care professional. Although any one case may have multiple issues, only those considered pertinent are reviewed here. Students should phrase the issue of the case in the form of one or two brief statements (e.g., the issue is whether or not a woman’s right to privacy allows her to have an abortion).

The court’s ruling based on the facts, issues, and applicable laws pertaining to the issue in the case, which should be phrased in the form of a summary statement.

The rationale behind how the court arrived at its decision based on the facts, issues, and relevant laws surrounding the case. Students should summarize in numerical steps the reasoning of the court in deciding the case.

After completing the typed case brief, answer discussion questions pertaining to the case.

Discussion questions, although prompted by a particular case, may not necessarily be germane to the facts of the case. The questions merely allow you to brainstorm how you would respond as a leader when faced with a healthcare administrative dilemma.

Choose four (4) questions below and discuss them in relation to the issue outlined in the case brief.

Are all the elements required in a negligence suit present?

What standard of care is required?

Who would you consider to be the potential plaintiff and defendant?

How would you argue for the plaintiff?

What evidence would you present?

• How would you defend the defendant?

What are your defense options?

• If you were on the jury, what would your finding be, based on only the facts as presented and the classroom discussion?

If you find the defendant responsible, what damages would you award, and for what reasons?

• What are your options if you, as plaintiff or defendant, are unhappy with the jury’s decision?

What are the relevant ethical and legal issues in the case?

Is there other information that might be helpful in the resolution of the dilemmas presented?

• What could have been done to bring more clarity to the ethical dilemma?

How should the legal issues of the case be addressed?

• How might one’s professional code of ethics be violated in the case?
• Describe how the principles of patient autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice may have been violated in the case.
• Discuss the issues that may impact the people involved (e.g., family members, physicians, other caregivers including nurses, chaplains, ethics committee members).

If you were friendly with the patient, would it affect your ability to give an objective opinion?

• Explain how moral values, religious beliefs, education, and life experiences of both caregivers and patients complicate the resolution of health care dilemmas.

Describe how financial concerns can affect the decision-making process.

• Describe how corporate culture can affect the decision-making process.

Estimated time to complete: 3 hours

Please review the rubric to ensure that your assignment meets criteria.

; HA625-CO5