Assignment Objectives

Explain the value of various policies and procedures at the federal, state and local levels as they relate to the provision of healthcare and patient rights.

Assess opposing views of current polices and the implications from both sides.

Assignment:Value of Policies and Procedures

Assignment:Value of Policies and Procedures

Plan an implementation process supporting recent policy changes.

Compose a document to employees addressing recent legal and ethical issues which may require changes in how an organization operates.

Reading Assignment

Pozgar, Chapters 12, 13, and 14

Title

Publisher

Edition

ISBN

Term

Course Code

Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals by Pozgar

Jones & Bartlett

4

9781284089530

1702C

HCM632-01

Assignment: Unit 5 IP

Assignment Description

Choose a health care issue with controversial ethical and legal implications that was at the center of a high visibility case in the public domain. Some examples of issues include but are not limited to the following:

Late term abortion
Assisted suicide
Surgical errors
Patient abuse
Parental refusal of medical treatment of minors for religious reasons
Transplant patient selection process
Access to clinical trials by terminal patients
Gender assignment for infants born with intersex anatomy
Survivor selection in conjoined twins
Access to illicit drugs for palliative care
Withholding hydration or nourishment
Life support continuation for brain-dead patients
Medical treatment for the elderly or terminally ill
Donor organ harvesting
Use of placebo in clinical trials
Use of patient data without consent
Stem cell research and treatments
Access to treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Note: There is no time frame during which the case must have occurred for this assignment. Please note, however, that any case selected must be analyzed in the context of laws and policies that existed at the time of the case in addition to current laws and policies.

Perform research in the University library using at least 8–10 relevant peer-reviewed academic or professional journal articles that were published within the past 5 years, and complete the following to prepare your report:

Analyze the ethics of the case from each end of the ethical spectrum (ultraconservative to ultraliberal) from the perspective of 3 of the following stakeholders:
· Patient,

· Patient’s immediate family or guardians

· Emergency medical personnel or first responders

· Doctors, surgeons, specialists, or other medical providers

· The hospital or health care facility

· A pharmaceutical or medical device company

Identify policies at the federal, state, and local levels relating to the provision of health care and patient rights that played the following roles in the case:
· Assesses opposing views of these policies from the perspectives of the provider and patient

· Analyzes the implications of these policies on the operations of health care organizations

Identify at least 3 state or federal laws that are relevant to the case, and complete the following:
· Evaluate key legal factors that are inherent in the case.

· Assess various policies and procedures that are inherent in these laws that relate to the provision of health care by providers or patient rights.

Differentiate between the demands of legal policies and ethical issues with relevance to the needs of the provider and patient.
Formulate an assessment of the potential impact of the case on decision-making options in the future for providers, patients, and administrators.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.