RESUMEN

Health professionals are well versed in the need to have systems in place which avoid mishaps happening to patients due to human error or breakdown in communications: for example, legal actions for damages for operations wrongfully performed on patients due to a failure in the identification process; surgery involving the wrong limb or organ; medications being given to the wrong patient. Hospitals set in place systems by which a patient's name and procedures to be performed are checked multiple times throughout the patient's stay. This process is particularly vital when a patient is undergoing a surgical procedure which will be performed under anaesthesia. Nevertheless, systems failures continue to occur resulting in claims for damages by affected patients.

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RESUMEN

As part of every private healthcare practice and healthcare facility, documentation of patients' healthcare, diagnoses and treatment are an ongoing requirement with legal connotations. The question that may arise is whether copyright can subsist in patient medical records, and if so, what benefit may arise from ownership of such copyright.

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RESUMEN

Health practitioners are well versed in the need to maintain privacy and confidentiality of patients/clients in healthcare relationships. This need for confidentiality is likewise required when an employee of a healthcare institution becomes a patient of that institution. The question which arises is whether any information which emerges as a result of the employee also being a patient can or should be disclosed to the administration of the employing institution where such information may affect the employee or others in the workplace.

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: We studied whether Grade 4-6 students who participated in a kinesthetic writing intervention improved in legibility, speed, and personal satisfaction with cursive handwriting. METHOD: Small groups of students with handwriting difficulties were seen weekly for 7 wk using a kinesthetic writing system. A repeated measures design was used to evaluate change in global legibility, individual letter formation, specific features of handwriting, and personal satisfaction. RESULTS: Analysis revealed (1) a significant increase in ratings of global legibility (p <.01; clinically significant improvements in 39% of students); (2) significant improvements in letter formation and legibility features of baseline, closure, and line quality (all p < .05); (3) increased handwriting speed (p < .05; not clinically significant); and (4) significant increase in measures with personal satisfaction of handwriting (p < .01). CONCLUSION. A kinesthetic handwriting intervention may be effective in improving the skills of students with handwriting challenges.

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RESUMEN

Recent cases have drawn attention to the issue of individual autonomy and what is sometimes referred to as 'the right to die'. Adult patients who are mentally competent have the right to refuse medical treatment even when that refusal can lead to worsening ill health and even death. This refusal of treatment may only be ignored when statutory law provides for treatment without consent, or a judge makes an order that overrides the patient's consent. While this is largely accepted when patients are physically and mentally competent, it becomes a complex issue when a person is mentally competent but due to physical incapacity are in care because they are unable to care for themselves.

RESUMEN

The issue of doctor-patient confidentiality in situations where the doctor can reasonably foresee that third parties associated with the patient could be put at risk by the patient's medical status is a continuing conundrum. In a case heard in the New South Wales Supreme Court in 1999, BT v Oei (1999) NSWSC 1082, the court held that a medical practitioner owed a duty of care to the sexual partner/s of a patient. Where there were signs/symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of HIV infection, the doctor had a duty to strongly advise the patient to be tested. Where the patient's results were positive, the doctor could not inform the partner/s directly; however, there was an obligation to counsel the patient to inform their partner/s of their HIV status, and to instruct the patient regarding the patient's own statutory responsibility to inform partner/s before engaging in sexual intercourse with them. A second case revolving around the issue of risk to third parties is the case of PD v Dr Nicholas Harvey & I Ors (2003) NSWSC 487, heard in the Supreme Court of NSW in 2003. The facts and the law discussed in this report are drawn from and summarised from the judgment of Cripps AJ.

RESUMEN

Patients have a right to expect that their personal information will remain confidential when they consult a practitioner. However, when they consult a doctor who is contracted to provide services as part of a business, the question can arise as to the right to ownership of the medical records created by that doctor, and/or the information recorded therein, after that doctor leaves the business. This was the issue in a recent case heard in NSW, IVF Australia Pty Ltd v Palantrou Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 810, in which IVFA sought an injunction to prevent specialists from accessing a database containing patient information when those specialists left the business to set up elsewhere. A further issue is what effect privacy legislation has on such disputes. This review provides an overview of the case and its outcome.

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RESUMEN

The duty to maintain patient confidentiality is an ethical and legal priority for all health professionals. There is a common law duty in addition to statutory duties imposed by various privacy statutes. An ethical dilemma can arise when a patient is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS because a practitioner becomes aware that third parties can be placed at risk of a serious infection if the patient passes the disease on to those parties. The question arises as to what extent a medical practitioner, should he or she suspect a patient to be a risk of being HIV positive, is legally and ethically obliged to counsel the patient to undergo HIV antibody testing. In a case heard in the New South Wales Supreme Court in 1999, BT v Oei (1999) NSWSC 1082, a medical practitioner was held to owe a duty of care to the sexual partner/s of a patient whom he should have counselled to have HIV testing, who in fact tested positive after a period of time and had in turn infected his wife.

RESUMEN

When a patient sues a healthcare practitioner with regard to their care, the healthcare records are an important part of the evidence used in the case. Litigation is usually heard in open court in the presence of the public and information contained within the records can be aired in that public forum. The issue of patient confidentiality and litigation arose in the case of Kadian v Richards [2004] NSWSC 382, which forms the basis for this report. The decision in Kadian preserves the right of patients to confidentiality of their medical records other than when a patient sues a practitioner for negligence in the delivery of health care; the loss of confidentiality is limited to what is necessary to enable the defendant doctor to prepare an adequate defence; and patient-doctor confidentiality with subsequent treating doctors is preserved unless it becomes inconsistent for the plaintiff patient to press on with litigation while continuing to maintain a full obligation of confidentiality with those doctors.