Innovation Bill Proposed to Protect Doctors Against Negligence Claims

May 2, 2013 No comments

Advertising tycoon, Lord Saatchi, Chairman of the Conservative Party, will soon disclose his plans for the protection of doctors who are innovative in the treatment of cancer patients.

Lord Saatchi explained in a speech to the Royal Society of Medicine in London, how under new plans, doctors will be encouraged to be innovative within reasonable bounds.

Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill in was introduced to the House of Lords after his wife, novelist Josephine Hart, died due to complications caused by ovarian cancer close to two years ago.

The bill is to be a read for a second time in the House of  Lords, and Lord Saatchi is inclined to show his fellow lords that the current laws regarding innovative treatments of cancer are a ‘barrier to progress’ when it comes to curing cancer. Currently, any deviation from the standard practise is very likely to produce a guilty verdict for medical negligence.

Saatchi will give another speech, this time to the House of Lords, it will include;

‘A doctor deciding how to treat a particular case starts with the knowledge that as soon as he or she moves away from existing and established standards within the profession, there is an automatic and serious risk that he or she will be found guilty of negligence if the treatment is less successful than hoped.’

Saatchi will be aiming to persuade and reassure legal and medical professionals alike, that the bill will not lead to a situation where patients will be ‘treated like mice’ or ‘lab ratted’ in anyway, and that a crucial factor of the bill is that it will only protect doctors who are not ‘reckless’ when treating patients.

Instead, Lord Saatchi will argue that the bill will allow ‘proper practise’ and decisions will be carefully considered about exactly what treatments will be deemed as innovative and not.

Approval to innovate will only be granted by a majority ruling from a panel of senior doctors. Patients will be told about any disagreements that may have occurred between doctors even if the right to innovate has been granted.

Saatchi is keen to point out that doctors who do not follow the careful and structured consideration of all the criteria and don’t follow the system, and innovate anyway, will have no protection and will be exposed as negligent. This is in comparison to those doctors who only innovate in compliance with the bill having statuary support in justifying their decisions to the health insurers, the General Medical Council and other courts.

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The Effective Privatisation of the NHS Looms

April 24, 2013 No comments

The coalition government’s new The Health and Social Care Act, which has been in-force since the start of April, has brought controversy over the content of section 75.  This section is said to have the effect of privatising the health care industry. The Act faced a difficult process through Parliament where it unusually went through a pause which allowed the government to take on criticism from industry experts as well as the general public. The consensus was that the Act would have the effect of privatising healthcare and that service providers would openly make profits from the NHS.

Concerns have returned once again this week as the sections regulating procurement and competition are being scrutinised by the House of Lords. Section 75 is said to be the ‘engine’ which will complete the privatisation aspect which the Act puts foreword. The content of the section provides that commissioners are to put out to tender all that is not monopolised by the NHS. This means that private sector health care providers are more likely to obtain such tenders rather than doctors who a wide majority of would be strangers to a legal tender notice.

If the regulations are successfully passed through Parliament and implemented they will establish a US like corporate regime which will create a burden on the government to compensate private sector providers in the event that services are returned to the public sector to provide. The Labour party as well as several major associations including the Royal College of General Practitioners would like for the regulations to be abandoned and replaced with rules that do not require commissioners to be strained with competition when making decisions.

The effects of the Act are likely to see many public sector teams who provide health care services be made redundant as contracts are lost to the private sector. The proposed legislation does not allow the government to save publicly provided services except if all other competitors are similarly compensated. Another downside is that private sector healthcare providers are likely to pick and choose the more simpler and profit high services such as simple treatments where as the more unpredictably expensive areas like Accident and Emergency as well as care of the elderly being will be left to the constrain of the public provision.

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Older Women And Recommendations For IVF

March 3, 2013 No comments

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have said that IVF should be given to women after two years of failed attempts, and not the current three. And that the age limit should go from 39, to 42.

Some experts fear the guidelines aren’t enough to lead to changes since they aren’t good for providers, an example of this would be how NHS has been struggling already to pay for IVF guidelines, and the recommendations by NICE are too much to bare.

Some statistics: 1 in every 7 heterosexual couples in the UK experience problems conceiving a child.

However, in 2011 more than 13,000 women became pregnant successfully through IVF. The new rules are that women in the age group, 40 – 42 are offered one cycle of IVF as long as they have enough eggs, and it’s their first time.

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“When a woman reaches her mid-30s her fertility begins to decline, even more so from her late 30s.”

“However, many women do conceive naturally in the 40 to 42 year age group. But for those who can’t, and who have been diagnosed with the medical condition of infertility, then improvement in IVF success rates over the last decade mean that we are now able to offer cost-effective treatment with a single IVF cycle.”

However, the updates still recommend that women under 40 are offered three cycles of IVF, this sparked concerns with fertility experts that this may not occur in reality as it’s too much to ask.

“I can’t see any prospect of it happening immediately. Our biggest concern is hanging on to the funding we’ve got,” says Dr Sue Avery, a spokesperson for the British Fertility Society and from Birmingham Women’s fertility centre, to the BBC.

One of the risks associated to IVF, is the fact that since adding a second Embryo could result in multiple births many women are put off using IVF.

It is recommended that women under the age of 37 should have one embryo transferred in their first cycle; however, cycles in elder women tend to consider adding two embryos.

Dr Tony Falconer, the president of the royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said that “The recommendation that IVF treatment be made available up to the age of 42 provides more choice for women, but they should still be aware of the increased risks associated with pregnancy at advanced maternal age.”

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Jackson Reforms: Difficult Times Ahead for Personal Injury Lawyers

February 21, 2013 No comments

With the Jackson Reforms set to be implemented in full effect this April of 2013, many personal injury solicitors and practitioners are beginning to fear the difficult times looming ahead of them. Many are included in the list of the individuals who will be affected by these proposals, with PI lawyers and practitioners leading the pack.

Jackson Reforms Bring Unrealistically Fixed Low Levels of Cost

Possibly the greatest problem that Personal Injury lawyers and practitioners will experience once the proposals will be in full effect is the one that will be posed by the unrealistically fixed low levels of cost. Add this to the price-capping measures that this particular profession has already known for quite some time now, it is now very apparent that these changes will prove to have a substantial impact.

The Civil Procedure Rules changes come with a set of new and mandatory management requirements for both cost and case. These changes will no doubt affect all of the contentious cases, in exception of those particularly for the Commercial and Admiralty courts. The most revolutionary change that these proposals will bring about is the requirement for the setting, sharing, and agreement by parties on budgets to be made at the very beginning of the court process. In the event that the parties will not be able to meet this requirement, the presiding judge will be the one responsible to do everything for them.

Even if the parties will be able to reach an agreement, the judiciary will still be working on the presumption that most of the cases being handled will still require cost management orders imposed by the judge.

With just less than four months till these set of proposals will be in full effect, Personal Injury lawyers and practitioners are already preparing for the worst. A spokesperson for No Win No Fee Compensation Claims Company, PerfectClaims.co, has said that ‘we expect personal injury fee income to reduce by 25-50% over the next two to three years’.

Legal Reform, News , , ,

High Court Refuses Change to Early Medical Abortion Procedures

February 18, 2013 No comments

The High court has rejected a legal bid to allow women to, under the correct circumstances, take their early medical abortion pills at home.  Although the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) had challenged the law they were abandoned on their attempt by the high court. Presently, women are forced to make two visits to their doctor and are given pills each time.

The change would have covered England, Scotland and Wales were it not for the Department of Health.

These pills are provided to women seeking abortion, only in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. There are over 70,000 participants annually. After being endowed with a simple consultation, women are told to attend two appointments with a doctor and both appointments are to supply them with the required pills.

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BPAS, however argue that giving women both sets of pills would allow women control over where and when the abortion actually takes place. This would also allow them to take the pills in the comfort of their own home, rather than dealing with cramps and bleeding on the way to, and back from the appointments.

This legal challenge only applied to England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland abortion is only allowed under the right circumstances.

BPAS chief executive, Ann Furedi announced that the charity will continue to pressure the government for a amendment to the law.

Some claiming that changing the law can allow for an unwanted message to be sent out: To use this abortion as a means of contraception. Concerns over young girls having early abortions could leave them feeling isolated, frightened and emotional.

Ann Furedi announced on the matter: “It is not morally correct to compel a woman to physically take tablets in a clinic and to subject her to the anxiety that symptoms will start on the journey back when her doctor knows it is safe and indeed preferable for her to take these at home.”

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The World Association for Medical Law

January 3, 2013 No comments

Medical law is an area which has attracted interest over the years. Many law schools and institutions now allow medical law to be taught and recognise it is an academic qualification. Medical law covers several areas of the medical profession such as legislations governing health and medicine, malpractice which occurs as a result of negligence and other aspects. The rights of those in the profession and their duties to patients are related to medical ethics which this area of law deals with. The World Association for Medical Law is an organisation which encourages more engagement in the profession through medical law.

This organisation is non-profit and aims to promote further study and discussion regarding this topic. They encourage further discussion and knowledge in regards to health law, medicine and ethics in order to benefit members of society and to advance human rights. The organisation was created in 1967 in Belgium after the success of their first congress. Till date 19 congresses have been held over the course of time in different locations around the world in order to promote their purpose and gain support from others. The most recent was held in Brazil in 2012.

The World Association for Medical Law allows individuals who have graduated with a degree or equivalent to join the organisation if they too are interested in the purpose of the group. Members of the organisation meet every two years at conferences. Within the organisation there is the Council of Presidents which consists of presidents of different societies of different states. The council however is governed by a chair. The Board of Governors of the organisation are elected representatives of each country who are chosen during general assemblies of the congress. The executive committee consists of the president, vice-president, secretary general and treasurer. The organisation has its own journal with over 2000 articles written by experts from all over the world.

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Crackdown on Cosmetic Surgery Industry

December 31, 2012 No comments

The cosmetic treatments industry is facing a crackdown on its practices that exploit and pressurise often vulnerable patients who are eager to improve their appearance.

After the government-ordered review heard criticism of aggressive promotional strategy, salespeople instead of doctors advising procedures, and a collection of other dubious ways of making money they have decided to clear out the ghastly proportion of the cosmetic treatment industry.

A ban has been put on time-limit procedures and discount deals since they may provoke and pressurise people into undergoing surgery that may not be sufficient for their health.

Back in August, health secretary Andrew Lansley ordered the review after the scandal caused by French-made silicone breast implants which were familiar with rupturing. This then led to an overhaul of a business criticized for its inhumane way of dealing with people’s natural problems.

Magazines that boast perfect body images which are actually done by enhancement have often put pressure on unsuspecting consumers when it comes to conforming. This indicates how the cosmetics industry is more interested in profit ratings rather than patient welfare and / or safety.

1Reviews have shown that not enough support has been invested into safe guarding consumer safety and guarantee of welfare after treatments. Reviews also show how not enough advice is being given to consumers by professionals in an attempt to show consumers what is good for them or what could potentially harm their welfare.

This industry, which earns a total profit of an around an estimated £ 1bn a year are ordered by ministers to clean up their act and show more enthusiasm when safeguarding consumers’ rights. Reviews suggest a two stage process for surgical procedures that require medical consultants, instead of sales advisers to carry out consultations. Branded completely unethical by consumer groups and surgeons are when cosmetics company’s attempt to give a ‘half price discount’ to customers who introduce their friend to the provider.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of the patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents has said the “suggestions for clamping down on aggressive and misleading marketing and requiring proper consent are very sensible, but the government must not shy away from the need to bring in statutory regulation of all treatments, which can cause serious harm.”

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