The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) signature accomplishment was the creation of a statutory right to health care for the uninsured. The ambition and the degree of societal and political debate leading up to the Act’s passage suggests it is a “superstatute,” a rare breed of statute that...

Direct primary care is a promising, market-based alternative to the fee-for-service payment structure that shapes doctor–patient relationships in America. Instead of billing patients and insurers service by service, direct primary care doctors charge their patients a periodic, prenegotiated...

Objective By manipulating patients' critical attitude in a video experiment, we examined whether physicians are more intended to perform defensive acts because of a higher perceived liability risk in Belgium. Methods We assigned 85 practicing gynaecologists/obstetricians and orthopaedists...

The Millennium Development Goals set ambitious targets for women's health, including reductions in maternal and child mortality and combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. The law, which historically has often obstructed women's access to the health care they require, has a dynamic potential to ensure...

Background: Informed consent (IC) is a legally enforceable right in South Africa based on constitutionally protected rights to bodily integrity and well-being. In terms of the law, patients cannot be involved in medical treatment or research without IC. Healthcare providers must inform patients...

This article explores the intersection of two professional fields - bioethics and clinical ethics consultation in health care on one hand, and alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") and conflict management on the other - which until recent years remained relatively unknown to each other. It...

For 2400 years society has been confident that physicians will use their professional judgment in treating their patients. Recently the federal government has intruded into the patient-physician relationship by adopting a requirement that physicians provide free oral and written translation...

Federal law requires hospitals to treat patients in need of emergency medical care regardless of whether or not they are lawfully present in the United States. And hospitals are prohibited from discharging those patients unless and until there is an assurance that their continuing medical needs...

Urbanization has been progressing quickly in Indonesia and the consequences on health and health inequities are still not well understood. In this paper, we present new empirical evidence on the differences in the utilization of health care services between rural and urban areas as well as for...

This paper examines the impact of universal, free, and easily accessible primary healthcare on population health as measured by age-specific birth and mortality rates, focusing on a nationwide socialized medicine program implemented in Turkey. The Family Medicine Program (FMP), launched in 2005,...