Assignment Part I:
Question 1. Should healthcare be a right everyone is entitled to equally or a privilege that only those who can afford it should have it? Explain your answer.
Question 2. What about a person who smokes, or has a bad diet; should they have to pay a higher premium than a person who doesn't? Explain your answer.
Assignment Part II:
Question 1: The legal maxim "If it wasn't written down it wasn't done." demonstrates the importance of documentation. But is the opposite true? Can a person document that care was provided when they actually didn't provide care? Explain your answer.
Question 2: Just like any other business, healthcare institutions have to operate within a budget and perform a cost/benefit analysis to determine what services to provide. Should hospitals focus on the needs of the community, or what services are going to be financially successful? Explain your answer.
Question 3: Patty is a patient of Dr. Lewis, a practicing psychiatrist. Patty has been diagnosed with multiple psychiatric problems and is on multiple medications. On one of her recent visits, Dr. Lewis was concerned about some of the things Patty said. He wrote in his notes that he is concerned about the patient committing suicide. Patty wants a copy of her medical records, but the doctor refuses to do so because he fears that if Patty reads his notation, she might actually commit suicide. What do you think? Explain your answer.
Question 4: Doctors are reimbursed for office visits based on the amount of time they spend with a patient and the seriousness of their condition. To obtain a higher CPT code reimbursement, the doctor makes the patient wait in the exam room for a longer period of time to satisfy the time requirement. Is this a form of upcoding? Explain your answer.
Question 5: A nurse practitioner has obtained her own malpractice insurance because of the nature of her work. She is employed by a doctor's office which also has malpractice insurance to cover their employees. If the nurse practitioner makes a mistake, whose insurance company should make the payment; the nurse's or the doctor's? Explain your answer.
Assignment Part III:
Case Analysis: Timmy, an eight-year-old, was climbing on some equipment on the playground at school. He slipped and fell, hitting his head hard.
Question 1: The school nurse evaluates Timmy and decides to take him to her office. She doesn't want to call an ambulance just yet, because the school hasn't been able to get in contact with the parents. If the nurse makes a mistake in doing so, who is responsible, the nurse or the school? Explain your answer.
Question 2: Still not able to reach Timmy's parents, the school nurse called an ambulance to take him to the ER. Upon arrival Timmy was still unconscious. The doctors started to provide routine care, but have determined that Timmy needs a blood transfusion. What do you think a "reasonable and prudent healthcare worker would do in a same or similar situation?" Would they give the blood transfusion or not? Explain your answer.
Question 3: Let's assume that the parents are Jehovah's Witnesses. Had they been present with Timmy, they would have refused the blood transfusion because of their religious beliefs. Should the doctors and ER staff taken that into consideration when they made the determination of what a "reasonable person would have done?" Explain your answer.