Post on 10-Aug-2020
Liability Risks in
Interdisciplinary Care:
Thinking Outside the Box
Dr. Gabriela PradaPrincipal Research Associate
The Conference Board of Canadaprada@conferenceboard.ca
June 11, 2007
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The Conference Board of Canada Mission
The Conference Board builds
leadership capacity for a better
Canada by creating and sharing
insights on economic trends,
public policy, and organizational
performance.
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Recent CBoC Publications on Health
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About this Report
• Liability issues had been mentioned in many consultations as a source of concern for IDC practices
• Research question: should liability risks deter participation in IDC practices?
• Health Canada provided financial support to answer this question
Methodology
• A systematic collection and analysis of court decisions in Canada addressing negligence in the provision of health services
• A search for relevant U.S. court cases• A review of articles in Canadian and international health-
care and legal academic journals that examine liability issues in IDC practices
• An analysis of findings from a reference group meeting
• An analysis of findings from 8 interviews with professional insurers, protective associations and brokers
• A review of malpractice liability insurance in five countries
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Liability Risks for Health Professionals
• Main sources of personal liability risks are type of profession, specialization and geographic area of work
• IDC introduces additional risks:
– Inappropriate delegation of duties
– Abdication of responsibilities
– Joint and several liability
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Recommendations for Health Professionals
Health professionals need to:
• Understand their scope of practice and their
limitations as set out in the provincial legislation
• Understand the scopes of practice of the other
health professionals in the team
• Be aware of, and comply with, policies that
govern their interdisciplinary interactions
• Ensure they and their partners have professional
liability insurance
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Liability Risks for Health Care Organizations
• Inadequate policies
• Breach of institutional policies
• Vicarious liability
A legal reminder: Incorporations and partnerships do not limit individual responsibilities and may even increase them
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Recommendations for Health Care Organizations
Health care organizations need to ensure that:
– Policies are in place to guide interdisciplinary
care and all health professionals are aware of
them
– Health professionals act according to the
standards of practice of their professions and
comply with their respective regulatory
colleges
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Recommendations for Health Care Organizations (Cont’d)
– They have malpractice liability insurance that
covers them and their employees
– All professionals have appropriate malpractice
liability/insurance protection (this should be
reinforced during annual performance
reviews)
– Video
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Legal Considerations
• Existing case law suggests that courts recognize the critical importance of a team approach and the need for professionals to rely on each other for care provision
• Courts are likely to continue to assess standard of care on an individual basis and would be unlikely to apply a standard of care that exceeds the health professional’s scope of practice
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Concluding Remarks
• IDC brings some liability risks for health professionals and health care organizations
• However, these risks pose no significant barriers as they can be controlled with straightforward precautions
• Liability concerns should not deter participation in IDC practices
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To download
Liability Risks in Interdisciplinary Care:Thinking Outside the Box
visit our website at:
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Any Questions?
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