To learn how the Health Care Integrity and Protection Data Bank enables its users to help combat health care fraud and to briefly examine two sophisticated schemes that have been used to defraud medical systems.  To highlight alternative medical trends, review applicable standards of care (including informed consents), and understand the legal issues surrounding alternative and complementary therapies.  To study the different levels of medical malpractice liability in various medical settings as adjudicated by courts across the country.  To familiarize the medical practitioner with the roles and responsibilities of Health Educators, explaining how their expertise can be utilized in collaboration with other health professionals to aid in patient care.  To explore the comprehensive medical support to the White House, focusing particularly on the role of the White House Physician.  To understand the impact of Direct-to-Consumer advertising of prescription drugs on patient behavior and how it may influence the patient/physician relationship.  To review the origins and success of the National Practitioner Data Bank and to inquire whether or not residents and interns acting within the scope of an accredited training program should be reportable. 

Views expressed in this course are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the military services, or the Department of Defense.  Legal Medicine offers medicolegal education for health care providers and does not establish policy or define a standard of care.  This course gives no specific recommendations concerning patient diagnosis or treatment, but instead is designed to highlight problem areas of liability in medical practice and facilitate risk management efforts.  If legal advice is required, it should be obtained from appropriate military or other federal legal counsel or from a civilian professional for non-federal physicians.