Medicine and law
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Advancements in techniques of medical technology have made it possible to postpone death, which, in many situations, amounts to nothing more than a protracted process of dying rather than a prolonging of life. This, together with the fact that these techniques are prohibitively expensive has brought to the fore difficult and extremely uncomfortable problems in medical ethics, especially with regard to who should have and who should not have high technology medical treatment. ⋯ Normally it is imperative that individuals make their own autonomous decisions in respect of medical treatment but there are times when consent is of secondary importance and when autonomy must of necessity be limited. However, information concerning medical decisions in intensive care should always be freely available to patients and their surrogates.
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Five cases of lethal injuries caused by gas or warning firearms are discussed. In one suicide case a modified weapon (elongated barrel) and steel bullets were used to fire a shot into the head, the bullets lodged in the skull and lethal bleeding resulted. ⋯ Two of these cases were suicides (temporal contact shot and back of the neck contact shot), one was an accident (inguinal contact shot with lethal bleeding), and one was an attack by another person with a contact shot against the neck with bilateral tears of the hypopharynx. After successful surgery, a delayed death occurred 12 days later caused by bleeding into the airways from the ruptured external carotid artery.
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The suspension of doctors in the National Health Service by health authorities, often for long periods for what appear to be trivial reasons, while inquiries into allegations are pending seems to have become an increasing problem in the United Kingdom. In some cases the hearing has been conducted years after the suspension. This situation caused the Society of Clinical Psychiatrists to establish a study group with the aim of producing a fact-finding report into what appeared to be a growing abuse of procedures. This article presents a summary of the study group's findings and the lessons to be learned from this disturbing bureaucratic phenomenon.
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This article examines to what extent the Austrian Supreme Court is willing to apply the theory of informed consent and wrongful birth. In the decision at issue the judges came to the conclusion that a physician need not inform about every single risk of medical therapy. With regard to wrongful birth, the court left open for further discussion whether maintenance costs which were caused by a physician's negligent conduct are a matter of compensation.
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Doctors in New Zealand may be prosecuted for manslaughter if patients die as a consequence of the doctor's failure to exercise reasonable knowledge, skill and care. The requirement to use reasonable knowledge, skill and care has been held to be breached in New Zealand if a doctor is merely careless. No distinction is made between 'criminal negligence' and the negligence standard applicable in civil law. This article examines New Zealand's law relating to medical manslaughter with particular reference to the case of R v Yogasakaran [1990] 1 NZLR 399 which was the subject of a petition to the Privy Council on 30 January 1991.