John D. Blum

Internet Medicine and the Evolving Legal Status of the Physician-Patient Relationship

Beyond the realities of human physiology, there is very little about the practice of medicine that has remained constant. Science, technology, and financing have all been major catalysts in continually altering the ways in which medicine is practiced. While the vision we have of the kindly doctor captured in a Norman Rockwell painting persists, few clinicians or patients would seriously argue that such an image represents more than a romantic notion of an era long past. The reality of modern medicine is that it is a field characterized by fluidity in both form and substance. While it is hard to predict how medicine will progress in this century, it seems reasonable to speculate that even greater alterations in practice lie on the horizon for United States physicians. Still, amidst all of medicine’s changes, one constant of this profession is the relationship between a physician and a patient. The nature of medical practice has been, and continues to be, rooted in a special human relationship joining physicians and patients in the healing enterprise. Physicians likely would argue that, even in a world of high-tech health care, dominated by large payers, the relationship a physician has with a patient remains part of the underlying fabric of medical practice. From a

Nursing practice an the law

ConclusionThis brief tour of American law has demonstrated a little of the breadth and currency of legal liability actions which affect nursing. As health care changes and nursing roles change with it, so too will the nature of liability in this area. The American penchant for litigation is such that the chances of disentangling nurses from the continued onslaught of negligence litigation seem remote.