Liability issues in the management of pain.
Liability issues associated with pain management are important to health-care providers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of pain-management devices, health-care payors, and society at large. This article discusses five specific legal liability concerns: (a) health-care providers' liability to patients and/or exposure to professional discipline for inappropriate pain management, (b) health-care providers' liability to third parties for injury caused by patients treated for pain, (c) the legal distinction between pain management and euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, (d) health-care payors' liability to patients for cost-containment decisions that impact on pain management, and (e) manufacturers' and health-care providers' liability for the risks and side effects of prescription drugs and pain-management devices.
Shapiro
R S
RS
Center for the Study of Bioethics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226.
D003363:Cost Control / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005065:Euthanasia; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008318:Malpractice; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000009:adverse effects; D017236:Suicide, Assisted