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This section focuses on the following aspects.
a. Categories
b. Structure
c. Starting nursing home
d. Personnel
e. Legal liability
f. Protocols
'Health care establishment' involves the following categories. They are, hospitals, nursing homes, health care
centres,clinical laboratories, blood banks, polyclinics etc.
Similarly, hospitals, as an expression, from the structure, point of view,include government hospitals, charitable hospitals, public sector
undertaking hospitals, private hospitals, nursing homes etc.
If we extend further, the structure (meaning thereby the nature and/or
character indicating the control or property interest) of nursing homes or
private hospitals may cover the following forms, namely, sole
proprietorship, partnership, company (could be private company, public
company and a company for charitable purpose), society, trust or may
even be part of corporation itself like a health care centre in a public
sector undertaking.
Legal aspects relating to medical establishments, at the outset, take
within its fold the nature and extent of legal formalities that are mandated
to be complied with, whenever a private medical establishment is to be
started. By and large, personnel in any kind of medical establishment, include, doctors as
employees, nurses or health professionals as employees, doctors as
consultants, nurses as trainees, junior staff, technicians and
administrative staff.
In the backdrop of this, legal liability can be either constitutional, criminal,
civil, contractual or consumer law based. Similarly, the liability on the part of medical establishment can
be either primary or vicarious, in the sense that the hospital can be
subjected to civil liability for the acts of its employees.
Generally, the grounds of liability range from medical negligence, consent,informed consent, confidentiality, emergency care to any form of
statutory liability. At this juncture, it is necessary to note, of late, the
parliament has enacted different legistations envisaging regulation of
medical establishments. For instance, they include, Transplantation of
Human Organs Act, 1994, Mental Health Act, 1987.
Similarly, in the same wavelength, specific legal framework applicable to
blood banks require detailed analysis.
Health care and product
At the outset, it is necessary to clarify the meaning, scope and ambit of
he word ‘product’.
As such product could be any kind of substance which is used for the
purpose of health care delivery.
In the context of heath care, hence, product means and includes, any
kind or combination of pharmaceutical substances, any substance or
object or a thing, which is implanted in the body, any substance that is
projected as a necessary consumable or applicative item.
Naturally, relevant legal information revolves around the quality of
product, depending upon the legal relationship the person or institution
manufacturing or structuring or making or offering such product, medical
and health professional, the person sold, establishment which is used or
implanted etc.
Healthcare professional and the law
In popular parlance, medical doctors (covering all the systems of
medicines), dentists, veterinary doctors, pharmacists and nurses are
considered as healthcare professionals. Individually and depending upon
the nature of legal relationship they create or enter with their institutions
or individual patients or persons, applicable pertinent legal principles can
be identified. By and large, legal principles pertaining to professional
conduct focus on the following aspects:
1. Medical Negligence
2. Medical Malpractice
3. Consent and Informed Consent
4. Confidentiality
5. Statutory Obligations.
Specifically, ‘statutory obligations’ require further clarification. That’s how, judicial interpretation and decisions become the source of law.
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