HSC 3133 - Legal & Contemporary Issues in Health Care

PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff speaks with actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith about her one-woman play, "Let Me Down Easy," which tackles contemporary health care issues through the eyes of more than a dozen different characters, based on hundreds of interviews she conducted. Original broadcast date: February 07, 2011

This program identifies the types of injuries patients suffer from poorly performed venipunctures that can lead to legal action against those who draw blood specimens and their employers. Detailed descriptions of the mistakes phlebotomists and their managers make that result in those injuries are presented using actual case studies from the files of an expert witness.

Is discrimination always unjustified? Danny Ghosen, Hajar Alariachi and others go in search of an answer to the question: To what extent can and must you treat people equally? Distributed by PBS Distribution.

The people of Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, suffer from a host of forgotten, parasitic diseases. Schistosomiasis and Lymphatic Filariasis blight the lives of millions creating an infant morality rate among the worst in the world. Yet the drugs which can cure these and other neglected diseases are cheap and safe to use. Now there is an ambitious goal - to eliminate five neglected diseases in just five years. We tell the heart-rending stories of some of those who have died, suffered and survived.

According to the 2014 Surgeon General's report, smoking and tobacco use is responsible for nearly 480,000 premature deaths in our country each year. This video with respiratory therapist Jay Taylor discusses the approximately 50% of U.S. businesses that are now smoke free. Whether businesses are non-smoking because of mandatory or voluntary reasons, the video addresses how we can keep the number of smoke free workplaces increasing.

This program investigates the silent epidemic of medication theft by health care workers known in the industry as drug diversion. Drug-addicted hospital staff are surrounded by powerful narcotics every day. Is there a system in place to get them the help they need?

In this NewsHour report, Susan Dentzer of the journal Health Affairs answers specific questions about the health care law from Americans visiting the National Mall. Among the questions: What will the law mean for small businesses? How soon can someone with pre-existing conditions buy coverage? And how will the law get funded? Original broadcast date: July 3, 2012.

Ireland explains how using restraints or failing to obtain proper consent before surgery can lead to accusations of assault, battery, aggravated battery and false imprisonment. Hear a case study where proper documentation cleared staff of imprisonment charges.

From acclaimed directors/producers Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson (HBO’s I Am Evidence, Class Divide) comes an enlightening HBO documentary that explores the causes and effects of chronic stress from scientific, economic and sociological perspectives. In investigating the recent three-year decline in U.S. life expectancy for the first time in a hundred years, neurosurgeon and Emmy®-award winning CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta travels across the country, interviewing experts from a wide range of fields who share their insights on why we are experiencing so much stress, its effect on Americans, and its consequences for the health of the nation. Along the way, Gupta also speaks candidly with Americans struggling with stress-related ailments and loved ones lost to “deaths of despair,” particularly in communities facing economic and social instability. Shedding light on the origins and nature of stress, including its biological and social roots, as well as various treatments and strategies being developed to help cope with it, One Nation Under Stress is a timely and vital film that encourages us all to focus on the mental and emotional well-being of the nation, a process that involves education, enlightenment and empathy.

As the nation gears up for the 2020 election, Democrats are promising bold new changes to the American health care system. One idea championed by many on the left is “Medicare for All,” or a single-payer system, which would eliminate private health insurance for most forms of care. Advocates of this plan promise that nationalizing health insurance will cut costs by reducing overhead and promote overall health by giving every American access to preventive health care. In adopting such a system, they note, the United States would join the ranks of most other developed countries that have already established national insurance programs. Opponents of such a system, however, argue that Medicare for All would force millions of Americans to give up employer-based plans, reduce incentives for doctors and providers, and increase bureaucracy and inefficiencies in the system. This would lead to worse care overall, they assert, and strain the federal deficit. Should private health insurance exist, should it be replaced with Medicare for All?

This program traces the causes behind the unprecedented growth in the use of prescription opioids and the devastating impact these drugs are having in virtually every part of America. It captures the story of the opioid crisis through personal stories and interviews with experts and reveals the tragic impact of the overuse of prescription painkillers on individuals, families, and communities.