Introduction
Medical professionals are guided and governed by statutes that are set by different states. These rules are set and implemented by governing bodies. In Illinois, this is done by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations (IDPR) who oversees the provision of certificates and regulations of health care delivery. According to Anass & George (2003) “for a medical professional to practice; they need to have a license.” For them to be licensed, they need to have a certain level of education and qualifications. These are to be verified by the IDPR before the professionals are authorized to practice. Humans are to mistake, and they are inevitable. Depending on their cause, they have different consequences. Likewise, professionals are likely to make mistakes during their practice. These mistakes can be caused by ignorance of regulations or through human mistakes. If this happens, patients or consumers are the ones who are affected or suffer, and therefore, they would like to raise complaints with the relevant administration. In these scenarios, there are specific procedures that they are supposed to follow. This paper will find out the role of Illinois statutes in regulating professional conduct in health care and also how the statutes help to fight criminal liability that may arise in health care provision.
Certification and authorization of medical professionals
For professionals to legally practice in any field, they are required to be certified or licensed by certain organizations (Pound, 2007). This also applies to medical professionals. Certification or licensure of the medical professionals in Illinois has to be verified by Illinois Professionals Licensing Consultants (IPLC). It comprises attorneys and investigators who formally worked with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. The role of this group is to safeguard and promote the health safety of the public through ensuring that professionals have all the qualifications required before licensure and to implement relevant Illinois statutes.
Before medical professionals are legally allowed to practice, they are supposed to have undertaken certain procedures. These include:
- Certification: It is the process through which recognition of an individual with certain qualifications is done by a non-governmental agency. Certification proves that an individual possesses skills in certain areas and is in a position to undertake them without any difficulty. Examples of these qualifications include successful graduation from a recognized program, acceptable passing of qualifying examinations, or having fulfilled certain levels of work experience. Health care professionals in Illinois require this according to Illinois medical statutes to qualify for a license.
- Licensure or authorization: Annas (2003) defined licensure as “the process through which a government agency provides permission to individuals or professionals to practice their profession making them accountable and prohibits the rest from legally performing” (34). Licensure defines the areas in which a professional is allowed to practice and the extent he or she is limited to. Licensure is meant to guarantee that the public is protected by ensuring that there is a set level for professional competence. This is offered and regulated by IPLC.
- Credentialing: Credentialing is the process in which a health professional is allowed to practice in a hospital setting. It is utilized to designate that a person has fulfilled established governmental or non-governmental standards set to be recognized as qualified and to be allowed to practice. In Illinois, this is governed by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) under the Illinois statutes. This is an important procedure as it eliminates all the possibility of providing wrong or incorrect information to practice.
Potential criminal liability related to these procedures
In the process of acquiring legal authorization for practicing, individuals are supposed to undergo the above-mentioned procedures. This may make some individuals engage themselves in activities that may amount to illegal acts under Illinois statutes. One of the common criminal liabilities is providing wrong information about themselves or their abilities.
In credentialing, individuals are required to provide personal information. This information plus others that will be retrieved from the individual by the IDPH will be utilized to ascertain whether a person is legible to practice medicine. With this pressure on individuals and their need to practice building their careers, they might provide wrong information that will lead to them being authorized to practice. This is one of the key illegal practices that individuals may be engaged in. Others include providing fake documents to verify their certifications or acquiring a license through corruption. This may amount to prosecution in the court under state laws for fraud, corruption, or endangering public health.
Professional misconducts
In the world of today, integrity standards are slowly declining. This is also affecting the medical profession. The professionals engage in misconducts that they are aware of. Some of the misconducts are sexual harassment of patients while they are under medication and cannot control themselves, performing procedures on individuals without disclosing full information on their side effects, performing procedures without the patient’s consent, not being careful to observe all the requirements before offering treatment to their patients or delaying performing a procedure that is required immediately (Annas, 2003). All these and many others constitute professional misconducts under the medical statutes of Illinois.
This is an example of professional misconduct that occurred in one of the medical facilities in Illinois. A lady patient is being prepared to undergo surgery. In the process of her receiving medication, the theatre assistant was touching her un-appropriately since she was semi-conscious and could not respond too much. When she regained her full consciousness, she approached the assistant and to get some answers as to why he did what he did. The assistant became more aggressive and beat her. The securities were the ones who saved the day.
Civil complaint process
In the happening of professional misconduct, patients or consumers are the ones who suffer. When this happens, they may want to file complaints. It might be a simple process but the consequences might cause a major influence on the professional. The process requires the complainants to file complaints forms and forward them to the administration of the medical facility. If the complaints aren’t handled appropriately, the patient or consumers can write a letter to the Joint Medical Board explaining their complaints against a certain professional. After the administration gets complaints, it may want to deal with them or they might forward the case to the Joint Medical Board.
Once the board gets the complaints, there are several procedures that they are to follow under the medical statutes and other procedural acts of Illinois (Annas, 2003). For any actions to be taken against an individual there needs to be evidence to back the allegations. To get the necessary verification, the joint medical board and the administrations need to have investigations carried out. This can be done by IDPR or the Department of Health and Human Services. These bodies are tasked with validating the allegations raised against the medical professional and providing evidence that links the individual to professional misconduct. Once they accomplish verification, they are tasked with recommending appropriate measures to deal with the issues raised and on how to compensate the patient.
Once the board gets appropriate evidence that will implicate the medical professional, it sermons the individual to appear before it on a specified date. When this happens, the individual has a chance to explain his or her side to the board, plead his case giving the reasons that led him or her to perform the acts that have caused him to appear before the board (Annas, 2003). After considering all the facts and information before the board, the board takes necessary steps under medical statutes to punish the misconducts that were caused by the professional’s ignorance or misconduct. This could take different dimensions including suspending or revoking the license completely, making the professional pay for damages caused by his or her misconduct or even the board may file a legal case against the individual in a court of law on behalf of the patient.
Potential criminal liability related to professional misconduct
Several criminal liabilities may arise from professional misconduct. From the example given above, if that woman would initiate a criminal proceeding against the theatre assistant, it would be sexual harassment state laws and would attract jail time if the lady wins the case. Another criminal liability could be manslaughter if a patient dies due to medical professional ignorance (Pound, 2007). Also, if a professional gives wrong medication due to lack of proper testing this could amount to them losing their license and if a case is filed it could be manslaughter. Intentional giving of wrong drugs to a patient due to the professional’s relationship with the patient would amount to murder. All these misconducts are punishable under Illinois medical statutes and general laws, and it would be disastrous to the medical career of the individual involved.
Conclusion
According to the Illinois medical statutes their organizations are set to govern the medical profession. Professionals in this field are to conduct themselves according to the regulations and procedures set by the organization. In case they decide to go against them they are punishable under law.
Reference List
Annas, G. (2003). The Rights of Patients. (3rd Edition). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Pound, R. (2007). Social Control through Law. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.