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What challenges and opportunities does our legal system currently present to healthcare administration?
The current legal system is grounded on the principles of the common law, which implies that the law is developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through statutes or executive branch action. In actuality, the common law legal system offers large opportunities for the protection of rights and liberties of patients and observation of existing legal norms. Due to the common law system, patients can protect their rights and prevent their violation through the use of court decisions and legal precedents. In such a way, the risk of the repetitive violation of rights of patients is impossible in case of the common law, whereas the statutory law leaves room for the violation of human rights and liberties in case of the existence of some legal breaches. Legal breaches are closed through court decisions in the common law legal system. At the same time, the common law fails to provide the precise system in which all legal norms and issues are regulated and clearly defined in statutes. As a result, the outcomes of any trial depend on the particular court decision and previous legal precedents. Therefore, there is always a risk of the unfair or erroneous decision being taken by judges.
What role do you believe the healthcare administrator plays or should play in the development and enforcement of laws related to patient care?
The enforcement of laws related to patient care is very important in the contemporary health care setting. In this regard, the role of healthcare administrator can hardly be underestimated (Salmond, 1997). To put it more precisely, the healthcare administrator should supervise the observation of existing legal norms and rules within a healthcare organization. What is meant here is the fact that the healthcare administrator should provide subordinates with detailed information on existing legal norms and help healthcare professionals to expand their knowledge in the field of laws related to patient care. In fact, the healthcare administrator should show his or her subordinates the model of behavior, which his or her subordinates should follow (Spevak, 2006). In addition, the healthcare administrator should control the performance of his or her subordinates, especially in terms of observation of legal norms concerning patients’ rights. In actuality, the healthcare administrator is responsible for the observation of healthcare laws related to patient care. At the same time, the healthcare administrator should work not only with healthcare professionals but also with patients.

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The healthcare administrator should be able to maintain communication with patients in order to identify possible problems or signs of the violation of patients’ rights or legal norms concerning patient care. In such a way, the healthcare administrator will be able to maintain the effective work of a healthcare organization and protect rights of patients and enhance laws related to patient care.
Based on your research thus far, what practices, systems and structure can healthcare administrators put in place to: operate within our current legal structure, protect the organization from lawsuits and efficiently and effectively deliver patient care? Be specific, give examples, explain, etc…. (To say “provide ongoing employee education” or “hire a lawyer” are not specific enough.)
Healthcare administrators are responsible for the observation of laws and legal norms related to patient care within their healthcare organizations. At the same time to maintain the observation of existing of legal norms and protection of patients’ rights, healthcare administrators should develop effective structures, which make the functioning of healthcare organizations transparent. To put it more precisely, the healthcare administrator should develop effective communication with patients (Friedman, 2005). In addition, patients should have an opportunity to send their complaints directly to the healthcare administrator and the healthcare administrator should consider all complaints to identify any possible risk of the violation of existing legal norms. At the same time, the healthcare administrator should organize the training courses and involve professional lawyers to train healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, healthcare administrators should develop a reliable system of close cooperation between healthcare professionals and patients because lawsuits may be provoked by misunderstanding between healthcare professionals and patients. Healthcare professionals should be aware of rights of patients and act respectively to the code of conduct developed for the healthcare organization by the healthcare administrator in cooperation with healthcare professionals, patients and lawyers. In such a way, the code of conduct will regulate behavior of healthcare professionals. In addition, code of conduct should be available to patients. For instance, a printed code of conduct should be located in every department of a healthcare organization patients could read it. Thus, healthcare administrators can provide the effective protection and observation of patients’ rights that will minimize the risk of lawsuits.

 
References
Friedman, L. M. (2005). A History of American Law (3 ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster.
Garner, B. A. (2001). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2, revised ed.). Oxford University Press US.
Klepper, D. (2005). Medical clinic records sought. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News.
Morrison, A. B. (1996). Fundamentals of American Law. Oxford University Press US.
Salmond, J. W. (1997). Jurisprudence, or, The Theory of the Law (2 ed.). New York: Stevens and Haynes.
Spevak, C. (2006). The Grand Jury and Health Care Crimes: What Every Physician Executive Needs to Know. Physician Executive, 32(1), 68- 70.