Awareness Of Legal Issues Research Articles

The Administration of Legal Issues in African Development for Global Sustainability

Despite the evolution of legal systems in Africa, its development cannot be realized without the adoption of global practices relevant to the 21st-century complexities. Using data from Kenya, the objective of this paper was to determine people's awareness of legal issues, innovation tools for harnessing research data, and innovations for sustainability. This paper gives a brief history of government systems in various African countries which existed before colonization and further recommends mechanisms for promoting citizens’ legal rights. The paper highlights the administration of legal rights in Kenya citing new innovative tools for general development. It recommends ways that could be embraced for promoting development; the technology system, the rule of law, constitutionalism, democracy and stakeholders' support. The paper concludes that the majority of the Kenyan citizens need legal awareness. The possible outcome of the process remains uncertain and open to further stakeholders' inputs. The paper finally recommends the increasing involvement of every stakeholder which is expected to increase the rate of Africa's development for global sustainability.

A cross sectional study of the patient′s awareness and understanding toward legal nature of informed consent in a dental hospital in rural Haryana

Aims: The objective of this study is to define the patient's awareness of legal issues, attitude toward consent process. An additional objective of this study is to find out whether or not the patients actually understand what has been explained to them. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out during January 2011 to July 2011 at a tertiary care dental hospital. In this study, a structured interview schedule was developed and handed out to 582 patients in the various outpatient departments of the hospital. SPSS version 11.5 was used for analysis. Results: Of the 582 patients approached, 58 patients refused to participate and interviewed 524 patients. Most (88.0%) of the patients under study thought that they had no right to change their minds after signing the consent. A total of 75% patients falsely believed that it was a legal requirement. Overall the level of understanding was poor in 17%, unsatisfactory in 33%, satisfactory in 32%, and good in 18% of the patients. The level of understanding was significantly associated with educational level (P < 0.01).Conclusion: There exists a vast discrepancy between the informed consents perceived by patients. Limited knowledge of the legal implications of signing or not signing consent form indicates that consent process should be reassessed in order to achieve patient autonomy.

Medico-legal hypothetical: Medical law course in half a day

This paper describes a half-day class for 200 first year medical students. It is designed like a conference and is intended to raise students’ awareness of legal issues that arise in everyday practice. It uses the Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach of event-focus, student-guided learning and student teachers. There are three parts.

Legal responsibilities of the pathologist.

Pharmaceutical companies exist today in a hostile legal and regulatory environment. The threat of product liability in the pharmaceutical industry has risen to the point where it stifles research and development, especially for contraceptive and psychotropic drugs. Regulatory sanctions against the industry are more likely now than in the past since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed significant emphasis on regulatory inspection and enforcement. Industrial pathologists play a critical role in defending their company in product liability litigation and from regulatory sanctions. In-house and contract pathologists should be prepared to give expert testimony in court and ensure that an effective document retention policy is implemented. Pathologists should know the limits of the FDA's inspection authority and be aware of the "pitfalls" of the FDA's new Fraud Policy. In addition to keeping abreast of science, industrial pathologists today can best serve the pharmaceutical industry if they maintain an awareness of legal issues that pose a threat to the future success of the industry.