Medicine and law
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In Nigeria, just like in many other parts of the world, one of the most extensively discussed issues on the public agenda today is the increase in prison population. The aims of imprisonment are protection, retribution, deterrence, reformation and vindication. Investigations revealed that the prison services have been,neglected more than any other criminal justice agency in Nigeria. ⋯ This article discusses the Nigerian Prison System and challenges, trends and the related Human Rights and Ethical issues in Nigerian prisons. Some of the unmet needs of Nigerian prisoners which include, inter alia, living in unwholesome cells, delayed trial of inmates, lack of voting rights, access to information, lack of conjugal facilities for married prisoners, poor and inadequate nutrition, poor medical care, torture, inhumane treatment and the need to protect prisoners in a changing world. The present report has policy implications for reforming prison services in Nigeria, and countries that sing from the same song sheet with Nigeria on prison services, to conform to the Fundamental Human Rights of prisoners in the 21St century.
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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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This article aims to highlight issues related to malpractice in plastic surgery and to point out the importance of good understanding of the law and the value of a patient's written informed consent as measures of professional protection. ⋯ In today's litigious society, maintenance of high standards in daily practice with continuous training and appropriate documentation of every procedure are all a sufficient defense of the plastic surgeon in case of medical litigation. Written patient's informed consent remains an integral part of the communication between physicians and patients, and importantly is facilitating professional protection.
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This is an attempt to present an analysis of the literature examining objective information concerning the likelihood of medicolegal errors as it applies to current medical practice. Hopefully this information will be synthesized to generate a cogent approach to manage risk in emergency medicine. ⋯ The current emergency medicine medicolegal dilemmas are a complex interaction of both patient and physician factors specifically targeting several disease categories and damage claims. Awareness of these issues can help to minimize subsequent medicolegal risk and improve patient care.
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This paper examines some of the medico-legal issues that arose as a result of a situation which occurred in May 2001 in Ireland when a woman who was a British citizen and who was fourteen weeks pregnant collapsed and suffered a brain haemorrhage. She was taken to hospital where she was placed on life support but declared brain-dead. As a result of the uncertainty regarding the hospital's obligation to the foetus, life-support was maintained until further opinion was sought. ⋯ In Ireland there currently exists neither medical guidelines nor legislation to regulate such areas of medical practice. Also, the courts have not had the opportunity to comment on this particular matter and thus there exists widespread concern as to how healthcare providers will act if such situation were to occur again in the future. This article examines the following difficult medico-legal implications that arise from the above situation and especially in light of the constitutional protection of the unborn child in Ireland.