Ethics, Law, and Aging Review, Volume 7

Book excerpt: Health care and human service professionals often experience anxiety about potential adverse legal repercussions for actions taken or not taken in the course of caring for patients or clients. In this volume, professionally distinguished and diverse authors discuss both the real and perceived legal liability context within which health and human service delivery to older persons takes place. The benefits and costs of litigious, legislative, and regulatory interventions on the quality of care and the quality of life for recipients of geriatric services is evaluated. Most important, chapters present suggestions for ways to effectively reduce or manage legal risks and anxieties while improving patient care. This volume fills a gap in the literature by providing careful and accurate analysis of legal issues rarely translated into practical and useful advice for health care and human service professionals.