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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this chapter, the reader will be able to:
Determine the scope of professional activities that may give rise to a pediatric physical therapy malpractice claim or lawsuit.
Document pediatric patient/client care and related activities effectively and in compliance with accepted ethicolegal standards.
Analyze ethicolegal practice-related problems associated with contracting and education, employment, and regulatory law compliance.
Practice effective clinical liability risk management in any pediatric physical therapy practice setting.
Develop and implement a comprehensive clinic-specific liability risk management checklist.
Synthesize legal and ethical principles learned into pediatric physical therapy practice in clinical, education, research, and all other settings.
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Pediatric physical therapists (PTs) and their assistants, like all health professionals, are charged with having at least a basic understanding of an ever-more-complex legal practice environment. From allegations of malpractice brought by patients or their representatives to employment contracting pitfalls to intellectual property issues, among a myriad of other considerations, pediatric PTs must stay abreast of legal standards and developments, and devise and execute optimally effective practice and personal risk management strategies and tactics in order to survive and thrive in a highly and ever-expanding litigious business world.
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Several considerations complicate the legal landscape. First, legal obligations incumbent on every health care provider exist in many forms at both federal and state levels—constitutional mandates, statutory requirements, judge-made case law pronouncements, and a seemingly endless and ever-expanding set of administrative rules and regulations. Local city and/or county legal standards also apply to health professional practices. Second, these voluminous mandates are subject to constant change by courts, legislatures, executive agencies, and regulatory entities at all levels. Third, association ethical standards and even private accreditation guidelines often blend with legal mandates, creating additional potential bases for financial or liability exposure incident to practice.
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Perhaps the most efficacious way to stay abreast of the legal environment and what is expected of pediatric PT professionals is to consult proactively and on a regularly recurring basis with personal attorneys of choice. That kind of relationship is customized, largely privileged from outside disclosure, and relatively low cost, and offers a high level of benefits, namely probable liability minimization in practice.
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THE LEGAL MILIEU OF PEDIATRIC PHYSICAL THERAPY PRACTICE
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Although health care malpractice civil cases brought by patients or their representatives against pediatric PTs are relatively few in number, the consequences of being claimed against and/or sued—irrespective of whether the PT-defendant wins or loses—are devastating in terms of personal stress, injury to professional and personal reputation, legal costs, and possible financial loss incident to a money judgment. Although the direct adverse effects of financial outlays may be dampened or eliminated through professional liability insurance, the other named adverse consequences still loom large. Therefore, the truism that the best way to avoid a lawsuit is to prevent it applies with full force to ...