RasGuides: *School of Health Sciences*: Medical Law & Ethics

Medical Law & Ethics

Fastcase This link opens in a new window
Fastcase is a database that includes primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions) from all 50 states, as well as deep federal coverage.

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Q. I need to find a case that shows a patient was injured by an intentional tort
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Q. Where can I find Federal and state cases?
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Q. Where can I find Federal and state statutes?
Fastcase FAQs
View these frequently asked questions and answers developed by the team at FastCase on how to effectively use this legal research database.
Fastcase Instructional Videos
Click this link to view instructional videos created by the team at FastCase.

In addition to Fastcase's content, we also have some eBooks that address some of the more famous court cases in the medical arena:

Roe v Wade in: Supreme Decisions by Melvin I. Urofsky
Call Number: eBooks via EBSCO
ISBN: 9780813347356
Publication Date: 2012
The Case of Terri Schiavo by Kenneth W. Goodman
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9780199748594
Publication Date: 2009-10-29
The Case of Terri Schiavo assembles a team of first-hand participants and content experts to provide thoughtful and nuanced analyses. In addition to a comprehensive overview, the book includes contributions by Ms. Schiavo's guardian ad litem, a neurologist and lawyer who participated in the case,and scholars who examine issues related to litigation, faith, gender, and disability.

Check the Dictionaries & Encyclopedia box in the Research tab for general database recommendations (Credo, Gale, eBooks). Below you will find reference materials recommended specifically for Medical Law & Ethics.

Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law by Jeffrey Wilson (Editor)
Call Number: Gale Virtual Reference Library
ISBN: 9781414498966
Publication Date: 2013-05-10
"The Gale Encyclopedia Of Everyday Law fills a much-needed gap between legal texts focusing on the theory and history behind the law and more practical guides dealing with the law and its everyday effect upon its citizens.
Medical Law, Ethics, and Bioethics for the Health Professions by Marcia A. Lewis
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9780803630307
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Routledge Handbook of Medical Law and Ethics by Yann Joly (Editor); Bartha Maria Knoppers (Editor)
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO (1 copy)
ISBN: 9780415628181
Publication Date: 2014-08-27
This resource presents "a critical overview and analysis of the current state of medical law and ethics. Each chapter offers comprehensive coverage of longstanding and traditional topics in medical law and ethics, and provides dynamic insights into contemporary and emerging issues in this heavily debated field."

Below you will find sample eBooks from EBSCO materials recommended specifically for Medical Law & Ethics.

Code of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association: Current Opinions with Annotations by American Medical Association
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9781622021819
Publication Date: 2015
HIPAA Plain and Simple: After the Final Rule by Carolyn P. Hartley; Edward D. Jones; Louis W. Sullivan (Foreword by)
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9781603596572
Publication Date: 2013-09-01
With AMA's HIPAA Plain & Simple: After the Final Rule, you'll understand the complex regulation of HIPAA and HITECH so your office can take immediate action and achieve HIPAA compliance sooner.
The Law of Healthcare Administration, Ninth Edition by Stuart Showalter
Call Number: eBooks and Academic eBooks via EBSCO
ISBN: 9781640551305
Publication Date: 2020-03-02
Medical Ethics by Michael Boylan (Editor)
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9781118494752
Publication Date: 2013-08-26
Presents a carefully selected set of readings designed to progressively move the reader to competency in subject comprehension and essay writing. Provides students with the tools to write their own case study essays.
Medical Ethics for Dummies by Linda Larsen; Jane Runzheimer
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9780470878569
Publication Date: 2010-12-07
Covers real ethical dilemmas doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers may face.
Medical Malpractice by Frank A. Sloan; Lindsey M. Chepke
Call Number: eBooks via EBSCO
ISBN: 9780262195720
Publication Date: 2008-01-11
Examines the U.S. medical malpractice process from legal, medical, economic, and insurance perspectives, analyzes past efforts at reform, and offers realistic, achievable policy recommendations.
Practical Decision Making in Health Care Ethics by Raymond J. Devettere
Call Number: eBooks from EBSCO
ISBN: 9781589012516
Publication Date: 2009-12-04
This resouce "includes discussions of several landmark cases, including the tragic stories of Terri Schiavo and Jesse Gelsinger (the first death caused by genetic research).

Check the Easiest, Intermediate, and Advanced Finding Articles tabs on the Research page of this guide for general health science article databases (Health Policy Reference Center, CINAHL, Consumer Health, Nursing Reference Center, etc.).

In addition to the all-purpose health science databases, you might also want to check the article databases below, which cover the health-related legal issues you may need/want to explore.

Health Policy Reference Center via EBSCO This link opens in a new window
HPRC provides information on the creation, implementation and study of health care policy and the health care system. Topics covered include health care administration, economics, planning, law, quality control, ethics, and more.
HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline Academic includes more than 100 million pages of multidisciplinary content in more than 100 subject areas, including history, political science, criminal justice, religious studies, international relations, women’s studies, pre-law, and many more. With more historical content than any other database, HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of government and legal systems around the world. Among the many databases included, HeinOnline’s journal collection features nearly 2,800 periodicals relating to a variety of subject areas, with all coverage dating from inception to the most currently published issues in most cases.
Want more information about how to use HeinOnline? Check out their Guides for database-specific content, search tips, tools, features, training materials, and more!
Justice Studies via ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Justice studies, criminology, social sciences, and psychology databases from ProQuest.

In addition to the websites below, check the Recommended Websites boxes in the School of Health Sciences Guide and the School of Justice Studies' Paralegal Guide.

AHIMA: Laws and Regulations Governing the Disclosure of Health Information
American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - fraud and abuse
This website includes helpful information on Medicare fraud and abuse.
Cornell University Law School's Health Legal Information Site
Contains links to health-related federal & state statutes, regulations, and more.
EEOC: Enforcement Guidance for Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA
Findlaw
Originally developed to market legal services, this cite offers information on a variety of legal topics.
Health (National Conference of State Legislatures)
State-level laws, rules, regulations, and legislation relating to health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, tobacco, and more.
HIPAA Privacy Rule Summary
This is a summary of key elements of the Privacy Rule, including who is covered, what information is protected, and how protected health information can be used and disclosed.
Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO)
An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. The Joint Commission used to be known as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
Medicare Fraud and Abuse: Prevention, Detection, and Reporting
Office of Inspector General - fraud reporting
This site includes information on reporting fraud.
Office of Inspector General – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This site contains healthcare fraud and abuse control program reports.

Course Projects

Below, you will find links to resources that are recommended for research on the security of EHRs, health information, and patient records.

The effects of information privacy concerns on digitizing personal health records
[ABSTRACT] Electronic health record ( EHR) systems can improve service efficiency and quality within the health care sector and thus have been widely considered for adoption. Yet the introduction of such systems has caused much concern about patients' information privacy. This study provides new insights into how privacy concerns play a role in patients' decisions to permit digitization of their personal health information. We conducted an online experiment and collected data from 164 patients who are involved in the nonmandatory EHR adoption in the Netherlands. We found that the negative effect of information privacy concerns on patients' willingness to opt in is influenced by the degree of EHR system interoperability and patients' ability to control disclosure of their information. The results show that, for a networked EHR system, the negative effect of privacy concerns on opt-in behavior was reinforced more than for the stand-alone system. The results also suggest that giving patients greater ability to control their information can alleviate their privacy concerns when they make opt-in decisions. We discuss the implications of these findings.
Electronic Health Records and patient safety
[ABSTRACT] The article discusses security measures for electronic health records (EHRs) and the effect on safety for patients in medical facilities. It looks at the risks related to medical mismanagement as well as those related to patient privacy. The author goes on to look at how EHRs digitize patient records and clinical workflows and the effect on patient safety events (PSE).
Protecting your EHR from security breaches
[ABSTRACT] The article discusses how the medical profession and electronic health record (EHR) vendors can safeguard their patient records. Medical organizations and EHR vendors must secure their records because it is a shared responsibility and they can be sued if patient information is compromised. It is explained that providers must be aware of those accessing patient information, what they are doing with the information and ensure that those unauthorized do not gain access.
The questions you should ask about your EHR/EMR
[ABSTRACT] The article presents questions and answers related to electronic health records (EHR) including the cost associated with electronic medical record (EMR) implementation, ways organizations can protect patient data, and efficient and effective EHR integration.
Securing Health Information
[ABSTRACT] Healthcare in the digital age is undergoing an IT revolution. In the US, spurred by legislation such as the Health Information Technology and Economics Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, electronic health records (EHR) adoption has dramatically increased. Meanwhile, enabled by mobile devices and ubiquitous networks, patients and physicians interact with health information in novel ways. Given health information's sensitive nature, however, a cautious approach to IT integration is warranted to ensure that patients' sensitive information is protected. Although health information security is of great interest in both academia and practice, relatively little scholarship has examined the security implications of the behavior of those who actually use IT in the healthcare sector. To stimulate this important discussion, the authors briefly describe the changing landscape of an IT-enabled healthcare ecosystem and discuss the emerging issues of mobility and security. This article is part of a special issue on IT security.

Electronic Health Records by Dean F. Sittig
ISBN: 9781482231557
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
This book provides an overview of the challenges in electronic health records (EHR) design and implementation along with an introduction to the best practices that have been identified over the past several years. The book examines concerns surrounding EHR use and proposes eight examples of proper EHR use. It discusses the complex strategic planning that accompanies the systemic organizational changes associated with EHR programs and highlights key lessons learned regarding health information--including technology errors and risk management concerns.
Information Discovery on Electronic Health Records by Vagelis Hristidis (Editor)
ISBN: 9781420090413
Publication Date: 2010-06-21
Exploiting the rich information found in electronic health records (EHRs) can facilitate better medical research and improve the quality of medical practice. Until now, a trivial amount of research has been published on the challenges of leveraging this information. Addressing these challenges, Information Discovery on Electronic Health Records explores the technology to unleash the data stored in EHRs. Assembling a truly interdisciplinary team of experts, the book tackles medical privacy concerns, the lack of standardization for the representation of EHRs, missing or incorrect values, and the availability of multiple rich health ontologies. It looks at how to search the EHR collection given a user query and return relevant fragments from the EHRs. It also explains how to mine the EHR collection to extract interesting patterns, group entities to various classes, or decide whether an EHR satisfies a given property. Most of the book focuses on textual or numeric data of EHRs, where more searching and mining progress has occurred. A chapter on the processing of medical images is also included. Maintaining a uniform style across chapters and minimizing technical jargon, this book presents the various ways to extract useful knowledge from EHRs. It skillfully discusses how EHR data can be effectively searched and mined.

Below, you will find links to resources that are recommended for research on healthcare fraud and abuse.

Avoiding fraud risks associated with EHRs
[ABSTRACT] The article discusses some strategies on how to prevent fraud relative to electronic health records (EHRs) in the U.S. It states that fraud in EHRs has two categories including inappropriate access by a health system's users and improper billing by healthcare providers. It notes that in order to protect oneself in such deceitful practices, a care provider must follow the guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Health Information Technology in 2007.
The challenge of healthcare fraud
[ABSTRACT] In the article, the author discusses the issues in the healthcare system in the U.S., particularly on the growing cases of healthcare fraud. He claims that fraud could account for at least 3% of the costs in the system. He cites the moves undertaken to avoid fraud, including the partnership forged by the Department of Health and Human Services with state officials and industry players to fight fraud.
Fighting health care fraud in bold and innovative ways
[ABSTRACT] The article discusses the authors' views on the challenges caused by different types of health care fraud in the U.S. They cite the new trend of fraud used by perpetrators such as medical providers, bogus medical experience, and illegal practices of pharmaceutical companies. The authors suggest to early identify the fraud in vulnerable areas of abusive billings through vigilance and collaboration of stakeholders within the health care system.

Healthcare Fraud by Rebecca S. Busch
ISBN: 9780470227084
Publication Date: 2008-03-03
According to private and public estimates, approximately $24 million is lost per hour to healthcare waste, fraud, and abuse. A must-have reference for auditors, fraud investigators, and healthcare managers, Healthcare Fraud: Auditing and Detection Guide provides tips and techniques to help you spot-and prevent-the "red flags" of fraudulent activity within your organization. Eminently readable, it is your "go-to" resource, equipping you with the necessary skills to look for and deal with potential fraudulent situations.
The Law of Healthcare Administration, Ninth Edition by Stuart Showalter
Call Number: eBooks and Academic eBooks via EBSCO
ISBN: 9781640551305
Publication Date: 2020-03-02

Below, you will find links to resources that are recommended for research on bioethics.

Bioethics: Select Laws and Issues From Around the World by Marshall Breslau; Paige Feldman
ISBN: 9781629482811
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
This book examines the field of bioethics from an international and regional legal perspective. It focuses on major international law documents such as the United Nations Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights and UNESCO declarations on human cloning and the human genome. Coverage of regional legal instruments includes the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (the Oviedo Convention) and its Protocols on cloning, transplantation, and research with human beings. Work on surrogacy issues by the Hague Conference on Private International Law is also discussed, as are some African regional legal instruments on biosafety, and stem cell research.
Bioethics for Beginners by Glenn McGee
ISBN: 9780470659113
Publication Date: 2012-05-29
How far is too far? 60 cases illustrating modern bioethical dilemmas Bioethics for Beginners maps the giant dilemmas posed by new technologies and medical choices, using 60 cases taken from our headlines, and from the worlds of medicine and science. This eminently readable book takes it one case at a time, shedding light on the social, economic and legal side of 21st century medicine while giving the reader an informed basis on which to answer personal, practical questions. Unlocking the debate behind the headlines, this book combines clear thinking with the very latest in science and medicine, enabling readers to decide for themselves exactly what the scientific future should hold.
Contemporary Debates in Bioethics by Arthur L. Caplan (Editor); Robert Arp (Editor)
ISBN: 9781118328477
Publication Date: 2013-07-22
Contemporary Debates in Bioethics features a timely collection of highly readable, debate-style arguments contributed by many of today's top bioethics scholars, focusing on core bioethical concerns of the twenty-first century. Written in an engaging, debate-style format for accessibility to non-specialists Features general introductions to each topic that precede scholarly debates Presents the latest, cutting-edge thoughts on relevant bioethics ideas, arguments, and debates
Medical Law, Ethics, and Bioethics for the Health Professions by Marcia A. Lewis; Carol D. Tamparo; Brenda M. Tatro
ISBN: 9780803627062
Publication Date: 2012-02-07
Now in its Seventh Edition and in vivid full-color, this groundbreaking book continues to champion the "Have a Care" approach, while also providing readers with a strong ethical and legal foundation that enables them to better serve their clients. The book addresses all major issues facing healthcare professionals today, including legal concerns, important ethical issues, and the emerging area of bioethics. Videos online at DavisPlus bring these challenges to life through short vignettes that feature scenarios of common legal and ethical issues in a medical office.
Perspectives in Bioethics, Science, and Public Policy by Jonathan Beever (Editor); Nicolae C. Morar (Editor)
ISBN: 9781557536426
Publication Date: 2013-05-15
In this book, nine thought-leaders engage with some of the hottest moral issues in science and ethics. Based on talks originally given at the annual Purdue Lectures in Ethics, Policy, and Science, the chapters explore interconnections between the three areas in an engaging and accessible way. Addressing a mixed public audience, the authors go beyond dry theory to explore some of the difficult moral questions that face scientists and policy-makers every day. The introduction presents a theoretical framework for the book, defining the term bioethics as extending well beyond human well-being to wider relations between humans, nonhuman animals, the environment, and biotechnologies. Three sections then explore the complex relationship between moral value, scientific knowledge, and policy making. The first section starts with thoughts on nonhuman animal pain and moves to a discussion of animal understanding. The second section explores climate change and the impact of green nanotechnology on environmental concerns. The final section begins with dialog about ethical issues in nanotechnology, moves to an exploration of bio-banks (a technology with broad potential medical and environmental impact), and ends with a survey of the impact of biotechnologies on (synthetic) life itself.
Problems of Bioethics by Lukas Ohly
ISBN: 9783631637777
Publication Date: 2012-11-05
This book criticizes the suggestive implication of newer bioethics that we need a new ethical paradigm in order to handle with the innovations of medicine and biotechnology. It holds that these innovations have a suggestive character at all which is not relevant however in order to justify a paradigm shift in ethics. Especially the suggestions of reproduction, genetics, mercy killing and neuroscience reveal a misunderstanding about ethics. Moreover they show inevitably theological implications they actually like to avoid especially in secular ethics.