Re: Medical/legal assistance, disclaimers -

[Guest guest]

BUT, on this subject, what a lot of people probably don't understand

and/or realize, is that those of us that have medical licenses,

medically related careers, multiple course certificates, etc., in

general, have more scientifically based knowledge, then the average

person. However, I must admit that over the years, I have heard

people speak, that I would swear have multiple Ph.D's, but have

never taken a course!

However for those of us with the aforementioned resources. I

guarantee you that we have worked very hard for our knowledge, not

to mention the time, money & effort put into getting them & for

many, it's our livelihood and/or a critical part of our lives & it

is essential to protect them, particularly within the litigious

society, in which we live. It is simply a fact, that on a legal

level we do have to be more cautious than the average person....we

have to be very careful when responding to any request. Not only do

we/and should we, make it crystal clear that what we do say is

strictly coming from us personally & we are not speaking on behalf

of any group or organization, but we should really spell it out in

every response that we make; I.E. That anything we've said is not

medical advice of any kind and should not be considered to be, in

any way, shape or form. And, in fact we are not recommending,

referring, suggesting or even inferring that what we say is medical

and/or legal advice. However, we are often put in a position (often

of our own doing) wherein we desperately want to help someone and

therefore answer any and all questions & are happy to do so...But in

our desire, sometimes out of zealousness to be of assistance,

that " disclaimer " often doesn't exactly get written into our

response.

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makes some extremely important points above and I need to go on

record in support.

I have written a number of posts about Standard of Care and Scope of

Practice Laws and issues. I cannot stress enough that the these laws

are so tightly written in the United States that literally ANYTHING

that can even be construed as giving medical advice can put the

offending party in a world of legal hurt by no more than a phone

call to that person's state Department of Health or Licensing.

For those of us with licenses, a simple phone call from a ticked off

doctor (usually one who has lost a patient to an alternative therapy

provider) can result in revocation of license, fine or even jail. I

place myself at risk of that with practically very post I make. So

do those who are RNs.

Even if " we " are totally correct in our " advice " and even if the

doctor is totally wrong, IT DOES NOT MATTER. By law, the doctor is

ALWAYS RIGHT. And in this instance, the doctor will always win

because the issue before the board/court/whatever is not going to be

the correctness or accuracy of what " we " say versus what the doctor

says or does. The issue is going to be whether " we " did or did not

give any type of " medical advice " or " practice medicine " without a

license to do so. All the doctor has to show is that, in the

doctor's opinion, the advice " we " gave constituted giving medical

advice outside our scope of practice.

It is an ugly issue but a reality and fact of life and will remain

so as long as the laws stay as currently written. Unfortunately,

the motivation for those laws was less for protecting the public

than it was for protecting the pocketbooks of the allopathic side of

the house. Again, reasons don't matter. The laws are what they are

and everyone needs that reminder every once in awhile.