ETHICS LAW ADVICE PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON LAWGURU.COM
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Question:
http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=336092064
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Category:
Health Care Law
Location:
TN
Subject: Doctors Self Prescribing
Is
it legal for a doctor to self prescribe prescription only medications? If so, is it legal for a pharmacist to fill
this self prescribed medication?
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Reply:
http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=263042493
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Category:
Health Care Law
Location:
TN
Subject: Re: Doctors Self Prescribing
I
teach a course in Health Care Economics, where four of the students are
nurses. So I posed this question to
them. The AMA has guidelines that
strongly disapprove on ethical grounds a doctor writing prescriptions for
himself. However, in most states it is
legal. I know it is legal in
Connecticut, but I have not checked for Tennessee. The exception to this rule is for controlled substances. Then it is illegal for a doctor to write his
own prescription, because these substances can be addictive and a doctor could
create his own addiction that way. It should be illegal in all 50 states for a
doctor to write a self-prescription for a controlled drug.
=========== Question: http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=585680170 =========== Category: Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Location: TN Subject: Legal AdviceMy question is simple. I am doing an essay for my college composition II class. It is on paralegals. The question I have is, If paralegals are trusted by lawyers to research cases, Why then are they not allowed to give legal advice? I would like to know the answer to this. Or at least some thoughts from those who work in the law field. Thanks
=========== Reply: http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=920320831 =========== Category: Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Location: TN Subject: Re: Legal AdviceThis is actually an easy question for me to answer. Paralegals cannot give out legal advice to clients on their own, because (1) they might do research on a particular question and find a line of cases, yet they are not able to find the right cases to predict how a local court would rule on a question of law or some fact pattern; (2) paralegals do not have the breadth of knowledge of an attorney --- analogous to the the health knowledge of a nurse and a medical doctor.
Having said that, a person who gives out legal advice in a jurisdiction without being a member of the state bar could be practicing law without a license. If you read the 20 pages of TN Supreme Court Rule 8, which are the professional ethics rules for attorneys, you will have a sense that part of the rules are there to protect the public and part of the rules are there to protect members of the legal profession.
I am all in favor of people learning the law on their own and doing a reasonably good job of representing themselves. I have seen a pro se party beat a highly feared divorce lawyer in Knoxville. It can happen. I also would be in favor of expanding the role of paralegals. In particular, I don't see anything wrong with a paralegal performing a piece of research for a member of the public, any more that it would be wrong for an economics researcher or statistics researcher to perform a piece of research for pay. But, there is a fine line between turning over the results of research and offering legal advice. So the paralegal needs to be sure he or she does not cross that line.
=========== Question: http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=344136594 =========== Category: Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Location: TN Subject: Who is responsible for notifying the next of kin ?My husband's mother recently passed away. He is an only child and the next of kin, since his father died many years ago. His mother remarried, but was divorced a few years back. When she died, her nephew arranged a private funeral and burial through our local funeral home. Afterwards, my husband was notified by a relative. We were told she had given this nephew ''power of attorney'' before her death. Did this document allow him to do this? Is it not the responsibility of the coroner or the funeral home director to notify the next of kin? We live in a small town and it was not as though these people didn't know my husband existed.
=========== Reply: http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/mesg.cgi?i=588458552 =========== Category: Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Location: TN Subject: Re: Who is responsible for notifying the next of kin ?The person who organized and paid for the funeral was required to notify next of kin. Potentially, your husband has a cause of action related to being denied to say goodbye through the funeral process, and then the shock of learning that all of this had taken place without notifying him.