Health Care Ethics, Legal Aspects and Professional Behaviour
Health Care Ethics, Legal Aspects and Professional Behaviour tests the principles that govern decisions, plus the statutes and conduct rules that apply to a vocational health worker in India.
Core rules
- Four ethical principles: autonomy (respect the informed choice of a competent patient), beneficence (act for the patient's good), non-maleficence (do no harm) and justice (fair, non-discriminatory allocation of care).
- Informed consent requires capacity, adequate information about risks, benefits and alternatives, and voluntariness. General consent for examination and treatment is normally valid from 18 years; emergency life-saving care may proceed without consent where no one can consent for the patient.
- Negligence requires a duty of care, a breach of the accepted standard, causation and actual harm. Vicarious liability means the employer may also be held responsible for acts of employees in the course of duty.
- Statutes to know: Consumer Protection Act 2019 (patients as consumers of paid services), Clinical Establishments Act 2010 (registration and standards), PCPNDT Act 1994 (no sex determination or disclosure), MTP Act 1971 as amended (termination conditions and time limits), Transplantation of Human Organs Act, and notifiable disease reporting duties.
- Scope of practice: perform only what you are trained and authorised to do, and escalate beyond it.
Worked example
A conscious adult refuses a prescribed injection. Reasoning: autonomy and valid refusal outweigh convenience, and forcing treatment could amount to battery. You explain the consequences, inform the doctor, record the refusal in the patient's own words with time and signature, and continue monitoring.
Traps that cost marks
- Revealing the sex of a fetus on ultrasound.
- Treating a relative or celebrity patient without consent as though consent were implied.
- Assuming a colleague's mistake is not your concern once you notice it.
- Practising a procedure beyond your training level.