Continuing a rich tradition, we are proud to announce the second edition of the esteemed Medical Law Forum. This year, our focus is on ‘Thresholds and Barriers to Medical Law and Ethics’, a topic of utmost importance in our field.
The conference will be hosted - as last year - by the Warsaw Medical University. As in previous years, speeches at the conference will primarily be from lawyers and aimed at doctors.
The conference is scientific in nature, and we intend, as organizers, to devote it to proposals for solving legal and ethical problems of a scientific nature. At the same time, the conclusions formulated should serve as a set of practical advice for the future so that practising the medical profession does not expose the professionals to liability. In addition to professional proficiency, however, this requires an awareness of the applicable law, including the legal framework of the profession and the rights of the patient. On the other hand, the medical perspective is valuable for lawyers: pointing out areas where medical law and ethics come to a dead end, either because of inadequate legal solutions or the lack of a coherent concept for solving organizational problems.
Therefore, we look forward to inspiring case studies, the legal evaluation of which will be the subject of interesting discussions. The idea of the conference is to have a comprehensive exchange of legal-ethical-medical thought on a common scientific plane beyond any divisions of professional and scientific interests. We hope for the participation of representatives of various medical communities, including universities, as well as the involvement of lawyers from various academic centres and professional groups. Our motto is the doctors’ best interest in practising their profession without errors caused by ignorance of the law, and the best interest of the patient in receiving treatment without violating his rights, as well as the efficient organization of health care and overcoming the drawing difficulties. We will jointly consider the organizational issues leading to absurdities, medical standards and guidelines, and regulations for the operation of institutions - in part affecting respect for patients’ rights and the quality of medical care.
The topics of the speeches are to identify gaps and inconsistencies in the health care system, illuminate them from the legal side and recommend possible solutions, in particular:
- When can and should a standard of treatment be deviated from? Who should decide whether to perform a controversial or risky procedure for the patient? In such circumstances, how far should the instructions of a superior be followed?
- When do doubts and lack of access to proper diagnostics justify an inaccurate diagnosis?
- How does the birth plan influence the hospital’s duties and the obstetric staff’s ability to act?
- How can you ensure actual access to anaesthesia? What should be the methods of dealing with emergency circumstances, and how should the ceiling of due diligence be determined?
- How does the unavailability of certain methods and means affect medical duties?
- How do we deal with the conflict between the employer’s orders and the due diligence of patient care?
- When does using an outdated medical method lead to liability, and when can it excuse it?
- What is the correct course of action for an on-call doctor when there is a defective organization of on-call staffing, especially when they perform the duty as a single person on duty?
- Is it legal to simultaneously undertake a one-person night duty on three wards?
- What effect does a contract with the National Health Service (NFZ) that does not meet the standards of proper medical care have on physicians’ and the medical establishment’s responsibility?
- How can the practical teaching of students in university facilities be organized with respect for the patient’s intimacy and decision-making autonomy?
- Does the patient have the right to know that the doctor caring for them is not yet professionally independent, and is there a right to refuse treatment by this person for this reason?
- How can you legally select the right patient when there are not enough places for everyone?
- How can we lawfully free up a place in the ICU for a more needy and promising patient?
- How should a doctor appropriately react to a permanent shortage or scarcity of certain medical supplies or instruments?
- How do we reconcile the interests of the “company” with the insistence of patients incompatible with current medical knowledge? How should we deal with situations in which the law does not seem to follow (for example, amputation for mental indications)?
- On the organizational dilemmas of non-stationary psychiatric care.
- The phenomenon of judicial paternalism in medical cases.
- Abuses in the evaluation of expert opinions at the conclusion of compulsory psychiatric hospitalization.
The case studies should illustrate organizational problems in medical institutions and the conflicting legal goods against this background. We will seek answers to questions of how to reconcile competing self-interests and those of patients with duties to a superior or employer. We will consider how medical ethics can support the health care organization when it conflicts with each other and how to resolve the conflict.
Conclusions and the most exciting speeches will gain the opportunity to be published in the Medical Law Review (70 points according to the list of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education). We encourage you to prepare your texts even before the date of the Conference to speed up the publishing process and enable the publication of the finished articles shortly after the end of the proceedings.
Note
Call for abstracts deadline: April 14, 2024 r.
Attendance registration: May 20, 2024 r.
Registration form: https://bit.ly/Zg%C5%82oszeniaForumPrawaMedycznego
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at: redakcja@przegladprawamedycznego.pl
Organizers:
- Interdyscyplinarna Pracownia Prawa Karnego, Medycznego i Farmaceutycznego (Wydział Prawa i Administracji UW)
- Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny
- Komitet Bioetyki przy Prezydium PAN
- Studenckie Koło Naukowe im. Pauliny Kuczalskiej-Reinschmit (WPiA UW)
under the honorary patronage of the Rector of Warsaw Medical Univeristy
Scientific Council:
- dr Joanna Różyńska (Komitet Bioetyki PAN)
- dr hab. Maria Boratyńska (Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny)
- dr hab. Przemysław Konieczniak (Interdyscyplinarna Pracownia Prawa Karnego Medycznego i Farmaceutycznego, Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego)
Media Patronage: Medical Law Quarterly