Chapter 9 Physician's Public Duties and Responsibilities Flashcards
Vital Statistics
Numbers collected for the population of live births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, divorces, induced terminations of pregnancy, and any changes in civil status that occurs during an individuals lifetime.
Guidelines for completing birth and death certificates
- type or legibly print all entries
- leave no entries blank
- avoid corrections and erasures
- provide signatures. Do not use rubber stamps or initials in place of signatures
- file only originals wit state registrars
- verify the spelling of names
- avoid abbreviations, except those recommended
Vital statistics gathered by government officials
- live births
- deaths
- fetal deaths/induced abortions
Information a physician must put on a birth certificate
- disease or injury that caused the death
- date and time of death
- if decedent was female, presence or absence of pregnancy
- whether or not an autopsy was performed
Autopsy
a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death or to obtain physiological evidence, as in the case o a suspicious death.
Reasons why its against the law for an attending physician to sign a death certificate
- possible due to criminal cause
- not attended by a physician within a specified length of time before death
- duo to causes undetermined by the physician
- violent or otherwise suspicious
coroner
a public official who investigates and hold inquests over those who die from unknown or violent causes; he or she may or may not be a physician depending on state law.
medical examiner
a physician who investigates suspicious or unexplained deaths
forensics
a division of medicine that incorporates law and medicine and involves medical issues or medical proof at trails having to do with malpractice, crimes, and accidents.
Public Health Statues
Inferred from the 10th amendment of the US constitution
federalism
the sharing of power among national, state and local governments.
State enforcement of public health law
- require investigation be conducted in infectious disease outbreak
- make childhood vaccinations a condition for school entry
- ban the distribution of free cigarettes
- institute smoking bans
- Involuntarily detain individuals who have certain infectious diseases
Communicable disease reported
- diphtheria
- cholera
- meningococcal
- meningitis
- plague
- smallpox
- tb
- anthrax
- HIV and AIDS
Reported if higher than normal incidence
- influenza
- streptococcal
- staphylococcal
- STI
administer
to instill a drug into the body of a patient