Legal and social aspects of pain medicine

Pain is the most common reason for patients to see a doctor. Socio-economic issues including unemployment and difficulty accessing education are common in such patients. Pain is the third leading cause for absence from work. Patients frequently seek support from their multidisciplinary pain team for welfare support and staying in or returning to employment or education. Pain physicians perform a range of intervention procedures and need to have a clear grasp of the law of consent. They are also called on to give expert evidence in personal injury and medical negligence claims where claimants have been left with chronic pain. This paper explores the legal and social infrastructure, and useful knowledge that should be at the fingertips of all those practising in the field of pain medicine.     

Legal aspects of medical errors

Healing people and medical care are together highly organized technological system with significant expert, ethical and legal regulative. Taking medical care is very sensitive area and it interfears deep into one's integrity, so the law is necessary in this area as a regulator. The aim of work is to show medical errors from legal aspects and clinical practice. Errors, negligent conduct during the medical treatment and bad results of medical treatment are categories that can easily be switched or can sublime themselves into the same thing. That is why correct differentiation of medical errors and viewing every way of medical errors appearance is necessary.     

Legal aspects of withdrawal of therapy

The ability of intensive care to replace or support vital organ function has resulted in some patients surviving for long periods of time without improvement or a terminal event. In patients with no realistic chance of survival, decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining therapies are commonly made. Withdrawal of life support at the patient's request is lawful at common law and, in some states of Australia, by legal statute. In the intensive care setting though, it is more common for therapy to be withdrawn because the therapy is of no perceived benefit or not in the patient's best interests. However, in Australia there is little case law and very little legislation to direct the decision of whether to withdraw life-sustaining therapy on the grounds of futility or the patient's best interests. The legislation that does exist in Australia, as well as law from other jurisdictions, largely places responsibility for the decision to withdraw therapy on the doctor in charge of the patient's care. However much weight is frequently placed on the wishes of the family. Disagreements between family and clinicians over decisions to withdraw therapy are unusual and generally resolve over time. However if disagreement persists, it may be advisable to apply to the courts for a declaratory judgement, given the tenuous legal basis of withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy in Australia and the uncertainty over the courts' view of the role of the patient's family in the decision-making process.     

Psychological aspects of chronic pain

This article considers psychological aspects of chronic pain, including pain that is purely physical in origin. The concept of the "pain lifestyle" is discussed, as well as the relationship between pain and vocational problems, marital problems, sexual difficulties, depression, anger, and the "pain-prone" personality. The article also describes the utility of behavioral treatment programs for treating chronic pain.J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1979;1(2):76-82.     

Legal aspects of deadly acute appendicitis

Appendicitis is diagnosed by synoptic evaluation of typical symptoms, laboratory tests and sonography. The only therapy is a prompt operation. The main reason for appendicitis mortality is the condition not detected or not detected in time. The case of a 50 year old male who died from a non-detected perityphlitic appendicitis with abscesses in the liver is presented. Only if appendicitis can be reliably ruled out an operation is not indicated. The not performed surgical intervention is often interpreted as a treatment error by the courts. In doubt, an operation should therefore be performed.     

Legal aspects of urologic prosthetic devices

Although tools may be one of the major progenitors of civilization, they certainly can, in the medical arena, give rise to a wide variety of legal controversies, including malpractice claims, suits for lack of informed consent, and actions against manufacturers for breaches of warranty and strict liability. This article has reviewed briefly some of these complex legal issues in light of the continuously changing status of medical device litigation.     

Surgical aspects of chronic post-thoracotomy pain

Chronic post-thoracotomy pain is a continuous dysaesthetic burning and aching in the general area of the incision that persists at least 2 months after thoracotomy. It occurs in approximately 50% of patients after thoracotomy and is usually mild or moderate. However, in 5% the pain is severe and disabling. No one technique of thoracotomy has been shown to reduce the incidence of chronic postthoracotomy pain. The most likely cause is intercostal nerve damage, although the precise mechanism for this is not known. Future work needs to examine surgical technique in detail. Until then, patients need to be adequately warned of this sequela of thoracotomy.