Linguistic Support Of The Healthcare Legal Regulation

Abstract

The article analyses the problem of integration between linguistic and legal science in order to increase the efficiency of healthcare legal regulation. The initial point is the necessity of branch-wise specialization of legal linguistics which explores the functioning of language in a legal sphere. Legal regulation is considered as the establishment of legal rules as rules of behaviour in a certain sphere and formation of legal relations which content of mutual rights and responsibilities of the subjects of law. Legal regulation requires linguistic support. According to the author linguistic support of legal regulation may be defined as the appliance of linguistic tools (lexical, syntactical, and stylistic) to achieve legal goals. Legal linguistics has developed a number of general requirements posted to certain elements of legal regulation. The general linguistic requirements have specific interpretation when applied to certain branches of law, in particular, in healthcare. Linguistic support of professional medical care has to promote the enforcement of the citizens’ right to healthcare, especially in a context of the development of telemedicine healthcare technologies, healthcare commercial services, and modern medical technologies. The author proves that verbal communication between a patient and a physician is the linchpin of the structure of linguistic support of healthcare legal regulation. The physician has to find adequate language tools to collect the patient’s medical history, to provide the patient with the information regarding his or her state of health, to get the patient’s informed consent to medical intervention, and to draft medical documents. The justification of the physician’s choice of language tools might be analysed within the scope of a speech or psycho-linguistic examination.