Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of litigation in reducing the spread of hospital-acquired infections. Given the prophylactic nature of litigation, it is suggested that legal action serve as part of a multifaceted approach to improving American medical care and that there be a balance between the burden of an environment occasioned by the specter of potential lawsuits with the benefit of improved care through pecuniary responsibility for failing to meet the standard of care. This paper concludes that while we should not over-employ litigation in the health care environment, we should also not abandon it. It is one treatment modality for the illnesses that compromise the American health care system. Robert Steinbuch is an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock [Arkansas], William H. Bowen School of Law. Steinbuch received a bachelors in political science and a masters in political theory from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Thereafter, he earned his juris doctor at the Columbia University School of Law in New York City. Steinbuch has testified before the US Senate, Committee on the Judiciary and the US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary on issues including public safety. Currently, Steinbuch serves on the board of trustees of the Society of Chest Pain Centers, an international accrediting health care organization. The society is a nonprofit international society that bridges cardiology, emergency medicine, and other professions focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other acute heart conditions. The society promotes protocol-based medicine, often through a chest pain center model, to address the timely diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes and acute heart failure. It is focused on promoting the adoption of process improvement science by health care providers. Additionally, Steinbuch serves as a commissioner on the Arkansas Commission for the Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Initiative. The 11-member commission will establish and oversee a statewide network that will contribute to a central bank of blood donated from umbilical cords otherwise discarded after childbirth. Once the network has been established, Arkansas will be connected to a national and international network of cord blood banks that supply potentially life-saving cells for transplants to children and adults with cancer all over the world. The University of Arkansas School of Medical Sciences, which has one of the largest adult blood cell transplant centers in the country, will serve as the statewide network”s main storage site. Steinbuch currently teaches business associations, law and economics, legal profession and evidence. He has published numerous papers on topics such as health law, commercial law, criminal procedure, and election law, in both medical and legal journals. He often focuses his research on the intersection of law and process improvement in health care and other public services.