Liability Risks in IDC - Thinking Outside the Box PDFs/June...Dr. Gabriela Prada Principal Research...

Liability Risks in

Interdisciplinary Care:

Thinking Outside the Box

Dr. Gabriela PradaPrincipal Research Associate

The Conference Board of [email protected]

June 11, 2007

www.conferenceboard.ca

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.


Recent CBoC Publications on Health



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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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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Liability Risks in Interdisciplinary Care:Thinking Outside the Box

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Liability Risks in IDC - Thinking Outside the Box PDFs/June...Dr. Gabriela Prada Principal Research...

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