The Impact of Governmental Medical Reimbursement on the Duty of Care: Comparative Legal Studies between Taiwan and the United States

Abstract

For a government to reimburse medical expenses through an insurance policy issued by the authorities is quite common in the modern world. In such circumstances, any medical treatment procedure must accord with the government’s requirements in order that the medical facility is paid for the expenses incurred via such an insurance policy. A legal issue arises whenever the government’s requirements conflicts with the duty of care associated with a tort based cause of action. This predicted legal concern really did occur recently and involved an incident related to root canal therapy. The central problem revolves around whether the court will accept that the standard of medical treatment set by the government preempts the duty of care in tort action. In this article, we discuss a similar case in the United States and how our government and legal system have handled a similar situation. In attempting to explain the thinking and attitudes in this case, this article will borrow from the experience in the United States and promote the importance of evidence-based medicine. This article will also indicate related supplementary measures that are important to the execution of evidence-based medicine. These measurements includes enhancing the mechanism of the Disputes Settlement Board that was established under the National Health Insurance Act, promoting the system of malpractice insurance and enforcing continuing education in order to alleviate the uncertainties associated with possible malpractice litigation. Only by making the above changes can the best solution be found in order to deal with the impact of government medical reimbursement on duty of care during medical treatment. The purpose of this article is to try and strike a balance between government, patient and physician.