Centreville Health Care Lawyer
Like in any other state, the District of Columbia has a vast range of health care laws. These laws regulate patients’ rights, abortion access rights, writing a valid living will process, the confidentiality of medical records, civil statutes of limitations for filing claims, and more.
Whether you are a doctor, a health care worker, or a patient, you need to know your rights and act accordingly to accomplish what these laws require and get what they deemed was right for you and your case. It may be your privacy you are fighting for, or it is your profession you are defending. Whatever the case, these health care laws are for you to work with.
With all the health care crises that affect Centreville, as well as the rest of the world, we know how important it is to get yourself a health care lawyer. From consultations to actual court defenses, our law firm is here to provide full legal assistance for all your health care law concerns.
Contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC on (202) 902-8399 and allow our best health care lawyers to address your legal concerns.
Access to and Restrictions of Abortion
The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledges every woman’s constitutional rights to have an abortion. However, abortion debates are still going on, and the court has yet to determine the exact details of how abortion should be done.
Although Roe v. Wade already legalized abortion in 1973 at the federal level, state laws are still made to regulate the actual abortion process. Roe gave women access to abortion for practically any reason as long as the process was done within certain gestational time limits. State laws, however, are constantly shifting as pro-life and pro-choice groups continue to battle over the regulations and restrictions of abortion.
Many states have abortion laws that require minors to have parental consent, mandate doctors to provide specific information to the patients, and set restrictions on abortion with later-term pregnancies.
Abortion laws often have factors that limit a woman’s right to access abortion. These factors are the following:
- Counseling
- Waiting periods
- Doctor and hospital requirements
- Gestational limits
- Parental involvement
- ‘Partial-birth’ abortions
- Public funding
- Private insurance coverage
- Ultrasounds
However, Centreville, VA, is known to have the least restrictive abortion laws of all within the nation. The following are in adherence to the state abortion law:
- As long as the process is done before the viability of the fetus or it is for the protection of the mother’s health, the Washington Reproductive Privacy Act forbids the state to deny nor interfere with a woman’s choice to have an abortion.
- Abortion does not necessarily need to be done by a licensed physician. During an emergency, a licensed health care provider may assist in the process.
- Late-term abortions are not banned.
- The presence of a second doctor is not required.
- Public funds are available for women who want abortion if they were subjects to rape and incest.
- Unauthorized abortions are classified as Class C felonies.
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Do you want to know how long you should wait after counseling before you can undergo an abortion? Are you curious if fetuses have rights? Do you need clarification if you still need parental consent before having an abortion? Are you interested in abortion pills? Is your boyfriend forcing you to abort your baby? Does someone deny you access to abortion?
Whatever your concern is, our law firm is here to help. For a more comprehensive legal assistance, talk to our health care lawyers in Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC.
Writing Living Wills and Their Benefits
As a patient, you can state all your health care and end-of-life preferences in a written document while you are still mentally capable. This legal document is then identified as a living will or a health care directive.
When you become incapable of communicating and deciding for your health, your next of kin and the hospital personnel will refer to your living will for medical care instructions. Living wills will also allow patients to forego artificial life support per the instruction of the person named in the durable power of attorney.
One of the common reasons why people make living wills is to prevent the depletion of assets in the effort to keep them alive. Our health care lawyers will also give you deeper insights into how a living will further help you and your family.
Centreville has the following main provisions of the living will law:
- Legal requirements for a valid living will: (1) any adult, (2) signature of the declarant, (3) written within the presence of two witnesses who are unrelated to the declarer, and (4) written in the suggested form.
- Revocation of living will: The living will can be revoked any time regardless of the declarer’s mental state through (1) destroying or defacing the document, (2) a written revocation signed, dated, and communicated with the attending physician, and (3) oral revocation to the physician by the declarant or by someone acting in behalf of the declarant.
- Living wills are valid until the extent permitted by the Centreville and federal constitutional law.
- The attending physician must always inform the patient or agent of policies that would preclude honoring the patient’s directive. If the patient chooses to retain the physician, a written plan will be filed.
- There will be no civil, criminal, or professional liability upon the attending physician as long as he acted in good faith and without negligence.
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Privacy of Medical Records
All of the U.S. jurisdictions consider every individual’s medical record as confidential. This is in accordance with the federal privacy rules established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA established nationally accepted standards in protecting the privacy of electronically stored medical records. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also requires medical professionals to keep every identifiable information of any individual as confidential.
However, there are some exceptions to this confidentiality rule:
- medical records essential in a suspected criminal activity
- medical records with no personal identifying information for research and tracking
- medical records that indicate child abuse and other criminal activity that caused bodily harm
According to the medical records law of Centreville, the following apply:
- Anonymous records can be used for research and publications.
- Medical records can be transmitted for peer-review purposes.
- Patients can authorize the disclosure of their medical records. This can be done by filling a form indicating where a copy will be exactly sent to allow access by a third party or employer.
- With a patient’s written authorization, a public mental health facility should grant the patient’s attorney or personal physician access to the patient’s medical records.
- Public health authorities, health care providers, and penal institution officials can access a patient’s medical records without authorization.
- If a health care provider or a non-exempt third party disclose medical records without proper authorization, they will be held liable for breaching confidentiality.
- Mandatory reporting requirements: child abuse, adult dependent or mentally disabled, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases.
- Information and records about persons with AIDS are confidential. Disclosure of the identities of people requested to test for HIV and investigated or considered to have HIV is permitted to those under 70.24.105
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Do you want to know if your doctor can share your medical records? Do you want to know what circumstances can let your doctor disclose your medical records legally, even without your permission? Do you want to find out the actions you can take if your medical records are improperly disclosed?
Our law firm has the answers to all of your questions. For a more comprehensive legal assistance, talk to our health care lawyers in Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC now.
Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
Euthanasia is another extremely controversial issue. The legal, religious, and medical aspects of this concern are among those that continually challenge the legality of this process.
Euthanasia is also known as mercy killing. It is the process of intentionally killing patients to end their suffering. This method is declared illegal in all states. However, Centreville allows physician-assisted suicide, as stated in the Death with Dignity Act.
Our health care lawyers will guide you through the difference between euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. In a nutshell, the two methods are different because patients administer the lethal medication themselves in physician-assisted suicide. On the other hand, a third party will take the patient’s life in euthanasia.
In 2008, Centreville legalized physician-assisted suicide. This law effectively allows terminally ill patients to opt for a medically assisted suicide and gives protection to physicians from being persecuted for assisting in a suicide attempt.
Under the Centreville, VA state law, the following is required:
- Qualified patients must be terminally ill with less than six months to live per the verification of two physicians.
- Patients must be 18 years old and above, residents of Centreville, mentally competent, and able to communicate.
- Through a power of attorney and an advanced directive, patients and their caretakers may request lethal medications to allow patients to die painlessly and in peace.
- A 15-day waiting period must be observed between the first oral request and the written request. Moreover, a 48-hour waiting period will follow the written request before the writing of the lethal medication prescription.
- The withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatments will not indicate suicide nor homicide.
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Do you want to find out about the constitutional rights to physician-assisted suicide? Curious as to what is considered as an assisted suicide? Any other end-of-life concerns you want to talk about?
Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC is here to serve you legally. For a more comprehensive legal assistance, do not hesitate to speak to our health care lawyers.
Durable Power of Attorney
If a patient wants to appoint another individual as his or her health care agent, the durable power of attorney is the legally binding process of agreement that they have to undergo. The appointed agent is then entitled to give health care, financial, and end-of-life decisions once the patient lacks the ability to give them himself/herself.
According to Centreville’s state law, the health care agent named in the durable power of attorney can do the following:
- Make health care decisions for you and your children (minors only)
- Buy or sell things
- Manage a business
- Collect debts
- Invest money
- Cash checks
- Generally manage finances
- Sue someone on behalf of the principal
However, it is important to remember that your declared health care agent cannot overrule what was stated in your living will. Furthermore, the durable power of attorney is valid unless terminated by the principal, a court-appointed guardian, or by a court order.
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Civil Statute of Limitations
If you have a case you want to bring to court, you must be aware of the existing statute of limitations imposed by the state. These are the time limits you have to file a lawsuit. These limits are set in order to preserve the integrity of both witnesses and physical pieces of evidence vital to the resolution of the case.
The time limits typically range between 3 to 12 years, depending on the case. Cases that are hard to detect will result in longer time limits while the more obvious cases have shorter time limits.
Here are the basics of Centreville’s civil statute of limitations:
- Injury to a person: 3 years
- Libel or slander: 2 years
- Fraud: 3 years
- Injury to personal property: 3 years
- Professional malpractice: (medical) 3 years or injury and 1 year upon discovery (maximum of 8 years)
- Trespass: 3 years
- Collection of rents: 6 years
- Contracts: (written) 6 years; (oral) 3 years
- Collection of debt on account: 6 years
- Judgments: 10 years
Remember: State laws change. For full and accurate legal guidance, contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 to talk with our Centreville health care lawyers.
Do you want to find out the specific statute of limitations on your specific case? Want to know when exactly do these statutes of limitations start? Are you planning to sue a government agency and want how much time do you have? Are you being sued for something that transpired some years ago? Do you want to know if that is still legal?
Talk to us now. Our health care lawyers at Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC will give you comprehensive legal assistance.
We Are the Right Law Firm for You
Our legal services are proven commendable. With expert and experienced health care lawyers, we can give you the most comprehensive and personalized assistance you can have in the whole of Centreville.
Knowledge, effectiveness, and efficiency are three things Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC is proud of. We will handle every legal aspect of your health care with your best interest in mind.
Caring for your health can be hard enough. Focus on getting better, deal with your medical concerns with peace, and let us handle the nitty-gritty details of the legal world.
Consult our Expert Health Care Lawyers
For any health care law concern, our law firm is here to serve you. Let us provide what you need and never worry about mishandled health care issues ever again.
Contact Law Offices of Kevin Byrnes PLLC at (202) 902-8399 and talk to our best Centreville health care lawyers.
