Health and Disability Commissioner Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Health and Disability Commissioner. Answer: LO1 The Health and Disability Commissioner has been established as a crown entity in NZ for the purpose of protecting and promoting the rights of consumers taking health and disability services as well as for the facilitation of simple, fair, efficient and speedy resolution of any issues raised by them. The body has been established through the provisions of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994. In the light of the purpose of the body there are a few express functions it carries out throughout the county in the field of heath care. The body has the function of promoting by publicity and education, observance of and respect for the rights of disability and health services consumers and specifically towards the promotion of awareness in consumers of health and disability services as well as providers of such services about the rights of the consumers and how such rights can be enforced by them. It is also the function of the body to publish reports and make public statements wit h respect to matters affecting the rights of consumers in health and disability sector which also incorporates reports and statements promoting compliance with and an understanding of the provisions of the Act and the professional code of conduct. The body functions as the first platform where complaints are received from heath care providers and ensures that the complaints are properly addressed. The body has the function of investigating on a complaint made by the consumer and identifies the breaches in relation to Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights 1996. The body establishes guidelines in relation to the operation of advocacy services. The body also refers investigations and complaints to Director of Proceedings so that a future course of action can be identified. The body also has the power and functions of suggesting a person in relation to any matter regarding their interest in the health and disability services. The body makes recommendations from time to time in relation Minister of Health with respect to the Code. Any functions which have been authorized by the minister are also to be performed by the body. Another body which operates in relation to healthcare in UK is the Human Rights Review Tribunal. In this tribunal a claim can be initiated against a government agency or a person by any aggrieved party or The Office of Human Rights Proceedings. The Director of Human Rights Proceedings may also bring a proceeding before the tribunal. The representation is only made when it is not contrary to public interest or the issue has a question oflaw to be addressed. Actions can be brought by the claimant themselves if the directors do not wish to represent the proceeding. Proceedings which are brought against health practitioners in NZ are heard by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The administration of the body is done through the Ministry of health and in it scope includes doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors and osteopaths. The tribunal had been established through the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 s. 84 (legislation.govt.nz 2018). LO2 Healthcare services are subjected to both civil andcriminal law provisions. Civil law and criminal law are different from one another based on several aspects such as penalties, person bring the suit and standard and burden of proof required. The purpose ofcivil law is to address disputes which arise between organizations, individuals, or between both where the primary motive is awarding compensation to the aggrieved party for losses. On the other hand criminal law deals with legal punishment of criminal conduct and criminal activities. Criminal law has the purpose of ensuring stability within the society and the country by methods of punishments to deter the wrongdoers to commit to such activities in the future. When it comes to civil law a claim is filed by an individual or an organization however in terms of criminal law the plaintiff is the government. The jury may not provide an unanimous opinion in terms of civil law and are present mostly in criminal cases. When decision are p rovided in relation to a civil claim the wrongdoer may be prosecuted as being liable or not liable on the other hand in case of a criminal claim the offender is addressed as guilty or not guilty. One of the most important differences in relation to civil and criminal law is in relation to the standard of proof. When it comes to civil law the standard of proof required is "Preponderance of evidence." This means that the plaintiff has to provide proof before the court which provides the claim to be beyond balance of probability. In criminal law however the standards of proof is different, here the claimant has to provide evidence which makes the claim beyond reasonable doubt (Rakoff Goldstein, 2017). This means that there can be no reasonable doubt that the defendant has not committed the crime. From the analysis of the medication error case it is can be stated that the case is evidently of a civil nature. This is because in the parties involved are the hospital and the family of the deceased person. There was not actions which had been committed by the RN intentionally thus the Mens Rea required to formulate a criminal activity is not present (Healy, 2016). In this case the nurse failed to provide proper medication to the deceased person because of a presuming that the doctor had made a typing error in relation to the power of the medicine. She further breached few other provisions of the code by not documenting the advice of the medical staff and not informing them about the EWS score of the patient. In the given situation as the breach of code involved civil penalties it can be stated that the case is of a civil nature and not criminal. In addition in this case the decision which had been provided by the commissioner was to provide further training to the RN and issue a letter of apology. These penalties imposed are also of a civil nature. In addition the commissioner had to determine whether the RN was liable or not and not whether she is guilty or not guil ty (hdc.org.nz , 2018). Thus the case is a civil claim. LO3 Through the analysis of the case in relation to the medication error it has been identified that the case was primarily of a civil natures. The laws which are in place for the purpose of governing the actions of staff involved in health care are provided through a few legislation and codes of practices (Furrow et al., 2014). The provisions which associated with such case is the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights which has been established through the Health and Disability Commissioner Act. The code provides that consumers of healthcare have rights and providers of healthcare have duties. The fourth right provided by the code is the Right to services of an appropriate standard. This means that the consumers are provided with a right to be treated with reasonable skill and care, the health care providers have to act in compliance with professional and legal standards, services needs to be provided in relation to the needs of the consumer and healthcare providers s hould work to minimize any potential risks to the consumer and enhance their quality of life (Forrester and Griffiths, 2014). The code provides rights to the consumers which are similar to that of in the law of negligence relating to a duty to act with reasonableness towards those who can be harmed by the actions of the individual. It is further provided through the code that a service provider would be held not to have violated the code if reasonable actions have been taken by him in the circumstances which existed in order to ensure compliance with the code. However there is no specific provisions which are present to determine this reasonability such as the objective test which is present in relation to the tort of negligence. One good thing about the code from the perspective of the consumers is that the burden of proof is on the service providers (Hall et al., 2018). Healthcare is a sector where a little negligence and non compliance may result in dire circumstances for the plaintiff (Perlin, Dorfman Weinstein, 2018). If the services providers observe any form of negligence in terms of the healthcare consumers, the consumers may even die as it was seen in the present case. Thus in this situation civil penalties are not adequate and it requires intervention of the government and criminal law to punish those whose actions are causing significant harm to the others (Mikula, Abraham Townshend, 2017). Civil penalties such as retraining or apology letter are definitely not adequate to compensate the loss faced by the plaintiff and the family. As per the law of negligence any loss is reasonably foreseeable and has been caused has to be compensated by the wrongdoer. These principles should also be applied in consumer rights in relation to healthcare. In addition the healthcare providers have to be punished with criminal penalties in case of a serious b reach so that further occurrence of such an act is deterred. LO4 My occupation is of a nurse working in a hospital. The occupation is registered in nature. There have been various lessons learnt by me from analyzing the case which would have an impact on my current and future professional practice. As a registered nurse there are several laws which I need to comply with in relation to my practice including Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 and Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights 1996. Any of my practice which is not of a competent standard may be brought before the health practitioners disciplinary tribunal which has been established under section 84 of the HPCAA. The HPCAA provides procedures and regulations which need to be followed and complied with me respectively when indulging in healthcare practices. All certificates and competency level along with fitness while practicing and quality assurance have to be maintained by me under Part 2 and 3 of the HPCAA. I also got to know through the analysis that there are significant rights and duties which are provided to the consumers and imposed on health practitioners by the Code. According to the code the consumers have the right to be treated with respect in relation to their privacy, values and belief of people belonging to different cultures. The consumers are provided with the right to be free from any form of exploitation, harassment, coercion and discrimination and thus I must refrain from such conduct at any cost in relation to my practice. Consumers are provided a right to independence and dignity and thus I need to provide them the services in a way here their independence and dignity is respected. It is also the right of the consumers under law to provide with services which are of a relevant and appropriate standard. In the present case this right was at issue and the RN failed to observe appropriate standards in relation to the services provided to the victim. She was negligent in her actions which cannot be tolerated from a professional in a healthcare profession. I need to therefore ensure that I do not indulge in any of such mistakes in relation to my present and future practices as a registered healthcare practitioner (Forrester and Griffiths 2014). The law imposes an obligation on me to provide my best efforts while discharging my duties and I have come to know though the case analyses that I may be prosecuted for any negligence committed by me which is not a result of reasonableness. I also have to effectively notify the consumers through the help of proper communication means about any information which may be relevant to them from current and future situation and a failure to do so would result in the violation of the code. I also have to respect the rights of the consumers to be totally informed about the treatment which is to be provided to them and must not compromise in any way with such rights. Thus the most important implicat ion of the above discussed case and legislation is that if rights of consumers are not respected then legal consequences may arise in current and future practices. References Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights 1996 Forrester, K. and Griffiths, D., 2014.Essentials of Law for Health Professionals-eBook. Elsevier Health Sciences. Furrow, B., Greaney, T., Johnson, S., Jost, T., Schwartz, R. (2014).Health law. West Academic. Hall, M. A., Orentlicher, D., Bobinski, M. A., Bagley, N., Cohen, I. G. (2018).Health care law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law Business. Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 No 48 (as at 07 March 2017), Public Act Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal New Zealand Legislation. (2018). Legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 March 2018, from https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0048/latest/DLM203891.html Healy, J., 2016.Improving health care safety and quality: reluctant regulators. Routledge. Mikula, A. V., Abraham, S., Townshend, G. (2017).Health care law: a practical guide. LexisNexis. Perlin, M. L., Dorfman, D., Weinstein, N. (2018). 'On Desolation Row': The Blurring of the Borders Between Civil and Criminal Mental Disability Law, and What It Means For All of Us. Rakoff, J. S., Goldstein, H. W. (2017).RICO: Civil and Criminal Law and Strategy. Law Journal Press. Search decisions - Health and Disability Commissioner. (2018). Hdc.org.nz. Retrieved 16 March 2018, from https://www.hdc.org.nz/decisions/search-decisions/2017/15hdc01664/