Oliver C. Schroeder

Cardiac Catheterization and Informed Consent: A New Technic Meets An Old Issue

For the increasingly popular technic of cardiac catheterization, a valid informed consent is based on a comprehensive description of the potential physical hazards that does not unduly alarm the patient.

Health Consumers and Medical Practitioners is Conflict Inevitable

Consumers are demanding—and getting—a stronger voice in decisions affecting health care delivery. Greater consumer participation and education should alleviate conflicts with medical practitioners arising from high medical costs, complexity of the health care system, and consumer militancy.

The law medicine letter: Treatment Of Juveniles Without Parental Consent

The needs of the child—not the fault of the parents—are the basis for the laws intervention in the welfare of a child. In an emergency, the physician or surgeon has not only the right but also the legal duty to save the life of a child. Even if he cannot locate the parents to obtain their consent, he may act, especially when the patient is a mature juvenile.

The Law/Medicine Letter: Educating for Leadership

Under a new program, physicians studying for specialty certification will combine traditional medical courses with intensive education in economics, sociology, law, education, management, statistics, and related fields. Similar programs are designed to provide leadership training for law students who wish to acquire medicolegal skills.

Public Health Law and the Public Health Officer

The public health officer today is constrained by law, although he once was the law. In all his actions he must be certain of his legal duty and authority and must use procedural due process.