Medicine and law
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The religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses holds that blood transfusion is against God's law. Therefore, surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses is a great challenge for every surgeon, especially for cardiac surgeons because blood transfusion is frequently needed during such operations. In this study we summarize the experience with Jehovah's Witnesses who have undergone open-heart surgery in Debrecen from 1989 to 1999 due to various cardiac diseases. ⋯ Three patients out of twenty-four died during the postoperative period. The twenty-one longtime survivors showed significant improvement in their clinical stage during the mean follow up of 37.6 months. More and more operations are done successfully without blood or preserved blood products worldwide, so it could be said that nowadays surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses has a lower risk than before.
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To provide ophthamologists with guidelines with which to prevent common errors of malpractice and suggest ways to reduce the risk of liability claims by improving the quality of care. ⋯ The risk for malpractice litigation for ophthalmologists may be reduced by preventing common causes of malpractice and improving the quality of care.
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On 17 September 2004 New Zealand created a multidisciplinary Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The new Tribunal hears disciplinary charges laid against all registered health professionals in New Zealand. It is believed the New Zealand Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal is the only organisation of its kind functioning at the moment There are 19 categories of health professionals registered in New Zealand who may be subject to the Tribunal's jurisdiction. This paper will: Describe the rationale for the establishment of a single Tribunal to hear disciplinary charges against all registered health professionals; Explain the structure of the new organisation; Examine the procedures followed by the Tribunal; Assess the likely impact of the Tribunal on the regulation of health professional standards in New Zealand.