ALH5253 LEGAL & ETHICAL ISSUES IN HEALTHCARE
3 Credit Hours
Student Level:
This course is open to students on the college level in either the Freshman or Sophomore year.
Catalog Description:
ALH5253 - Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare (3 hrs.)
This course is designed to help the student gain an understanding of legal and ethical issues faced by health care practitioners. Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to define ethics, describe contemporary legal and ethical issues in healthcare, and describe patient rights.
Course Classification:
Lecture
Prerequisites:
None
Controlling Purpose:
This course is designed to help the student gain an understanding of legal and ethical issues faced by health care practitioners.
Learner Outcomes:
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to define ethics, describe contemporary legal and ethical issues in healthcare, and describe patient rights.
Unit Outcomes for Criterion Based Evaluation:
The following outline defines the minimum core content not including the final examination period. Instructors may add other material as time allows.
UNIT 1: KBOR Aligned Competencies
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will be able to describe legal and ethical issues in healthcare.
- Describe the legal system in the United States
- Describe the use of the health records as a legal document
- Examine the concept of patient’s rights and the role that healthcare professionals play in protecting these rights
- Distinguish among the variety of regulations affecting health care including HIPAA, AIDS/HIV, mental health and drug and alcohol health records
- Explain the different types of consents
- Explore the role that health professionals play in the legal environment
- Identify the essential elements for establishing negligence
- Justify various positions on ethical issues in healthcare
- Summarize the legal and ethical issues involving electronic health records
UNIT 2: Introduction to Ethics
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will gain an understanding of ethics.
- Explain what ethics is, its importance, and its application to ethical dilemmas.
- Describe the concepts of morality, codes of conduct, and moral judgments.
- Understand relevant “ethical theories and principles.”
- Describe virtue ethics and values and how they more clearly describe one’s moral character.
- Explain why courage is often considered to be the “ladder on which all other virtues mount.”
- Describe why there is a declining trust in the politics of health care.
- Understand how religious ethics can affect one’s moral character.
- Explain the concept of “situational ethics” and how changes in circumstances can alter one’s behavior.
- Describe the concepts of “ethical relativism” and one’s “moral compass.”
UNIT 3: Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will gain an understanding of ethics.
- Better understand ethical concepts and how they can be applied in the resolution of health care ethical dilemmas.
- Have a better understanding of the following common ethical dilemmas:
- Abortion
- AIDS
- Artificial insemination
- Organ donations
- Research, experimentation, and clinical trials
- Sterilization
- Wrongful birth, wrongful life, and wrongful conception
- Surrogacy
- Human genetics
- Describe the human struggle to survive.
- Explain the issues involved in the following end-of-life dilemmas:
- Euthanasia
- Assisted suicide
- Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act
- Patient Self-Determination Act of 1 990
- Advance directives (e.g., living will, durable power of
- attorney)
- Surrogate decision making
- Futility of treatment
- Withdrawal of treatment
- Do-not-resuscitate orders
UNIT 4: Introduction to Law
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will gain an understanding of the law.
- Identify and explain tort law.
- Identify and describe criminal law and how it applies to health professionals, including:
- Criminal trial
- Fraud
- Manslaughter
- Describe the elements of negligence and how they apply to health professionals.
- Identify and describe intentional torts and how they apply to health professionals, such as:
- Assault and battery
- False imprisonment
- Defamation of character
- Invasion of privacy
- Infliction of mental distress
UNIT 6: Health Care Professionals’ Ethical and Legal Issues
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will gain an understanding of the law.
- Understand how ethics and the law impact health care professionals.
- Recognize similarities in the various professional codes of ethics.
- Understand how ethical and legal issues described in any single case have applicability to the various health professions.
- Explain the difference between the certification and licensure of a health care professional.
- Describe the principles of medical ethics.
- Discuss the credentialing process for physicians.
UNIT 7: Patient Rights, Patient Consent, and Patient Abuse
Outcomes: Upon completion of the unit, the student will gain an understanding of the law.
- Describe and understand patient rights.
- Describe and understand patient responsibilities.
- Describe a patient’s right to self-determination.
- Describe consent and its various aspects, including:
- Informed consent
- Consent and ethical codes
- Assessing capacity to consent
- Adequacy of consent
- Proof of consent
- Authorization of consent
- Implied consent
- Right to refuse treatment
- Statutory consent
- Understand the pervasiveness of senior and child abuse.
- Identify the signs of abuse.
- Describe the reporting requirements of abuse.
Projects Required:
As assigned by the instructor.
Textbook:
Contact Bookstore for current textbook.
Materials/Equipment Required:
None
Attendance Policy:
Students should adhere to the attendance policy outlined by the instructor in the course syllabus.
Grading Policy:
The grading policy will be outlined by the instructor in the course syllabus.
Maximum class size:
Based on classroom occupancy
Course Time Frame:
The U.S. Department of Education, Higher Learning Commission and the Kansas Board of Regents define credit hour and have specific regulations that the college must follow when developing, teaching and assessing the educational aspects of the college. A credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally-established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester hour of credit or an equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time. The number of semester hours of credit allowed for each distance education or blended hybrid courses shall be assigned by the college based on the amount of time needed to achieve the same course outcomes in a purely face-to-face format.
Refer to the following policies:
402.00 Academic Code of Conduct
263.00 Student Appeal of Course Grades
403.00 Student Code of Conduct
Disability Services Program:
Cowley College, in recognition of state and federal laws, will accommodate a student with a documented disability. If a student has a disability which may impact work in this class and which requires accommodations, contact the Disability Services Coordinator.
Disclaimer: This Information is Subject to Change. For the Official Course Procedure Contact Academic Affairs.
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