Striking a balance between ethics and the Law and, empathy and compassion

Be gentle as a dove but wise as a serpent, the holy book admonishes.
In our every day life we are always torn between striking a balance between the two; when to let gentleness and it's other attributes including empathy and compassion take lead, and when to heed the often harsh but better counsel of the wisdom within. It becomes more important in a field such as medicine where ethics and the axe of the law on one side is in constant civil war with compassion,empathy, and the need to go the extra mile to save a life.

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Ethics presupposes an ideal situation and the law was made on such a premise. But in the complex world of realities, ideal situations are a far cry from what is obtainable from real case scenarios and there is thus often the need to break or bend the law for the course of a greater good. In such scenarios however, the law becomes a fag, one that screws you over and over if you left your ass uncovered.

That you are ignorant of an existing law is no excuse, it is one's responsibility to get acquainted with the ethics of his profession and the laws guiding them.
In this vein, I have been reading this book on Ethics And Medicolegal Aspects Of Medical Practice like I'm gonna write primaries in it. And in it's lines, you would be surprised how grave your everyday activities, even ones born of the best and most human intentions, appears in the eye of the law.
Mr Bumble would say , the law is a ass, the law is blind and I pray it will one day have its eyes opened by experience.

[NB: "a" for "an" was deliberate, that's exactly how Mr Bumble said it in Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist].

Fact is till experience opens the eyes of the law, we have no option but to dance to it's blind tunes and covering our asses while doing so.
We have no option but to be a blend of Jekyll and Hyde, being the dove as well as the serpent.

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SCENARIO
A man lay dying from anaemic heart failure and was in urgent need of transfusion with blood.
It was at the wake of one of the jehosu strikes, so the blood bank was not offering blood transfusion services and I was the only healthcare personnel in a remote outstation.
Without transfusion, the man's fate was sealed and referring out was not a feasible option as they had not cleared their hospital bill.
The only way was for the relatives to source for blood from outside the hospital. Apart from ethics, the safety of the blood cannot be vouched for with certainty. Even though it had been screened and cross-matched and found both free of HIV 1 and 2, Hepatitis B and C, and compatible with patient's blood, you just can't trust the results of a peripheral lab.

Between the devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea is always a better option: there's always every chance that a coast guard may come to your aid,or that Sharks may do you the favour they did Jonah, that is if you don't get crushed between their powerful jaws first and still go meet the devil.
But if things goes awry, the ambulance chasing knights of the law will turn a blind eye to all these facts and still move to nail your ass. So like always, make a move to cover yours ass.

In the situation above I explained everything to the least including the fact that I can't vouch for the safety of a blood I don't know the integrity of the lab in which it was screened, not because I particularly suspected them to be inefficient or substandard but because I had never worked with them.
So when they said I should go ahead and transfuse [since he was dead anyway without the transfusion] , I have to make a draft for them to sign.

CONSENT FOR TRANSFUSION OF POTENTIALLY HIGH RISK BLOOD
This is to certify that I [name], wife to [Husband's name] hereby give consent for the blood with pint number which was sourced from outside the hospital to be transfused to my husband, [husband's name]
I have been dully counselled, and I am fully aware that neither the hospital [Hospital name] nor the doctor on call [my humble self's name] can vouch for the safety of the said pint[pint number again]
Therefore in the setting of blood transfusion reaction or any other related hazard/mishap, I [her name] accept full responsibilities and will not hold the hospital nor the doctor on call accountable/responsible.

CONCLUSION
In the above scenario, things went perfectly well. But what if it didn't? Would the law and it's ambulance chasing knights[lawyers] be reasonable enough to see that your actions were in good faith?
The law is a bitch, a blind and inexperienced one who can be manipulated to make selfless actions born of the best intentions look as if aimed to serve a selfish purpose in the light of cross examination. Once you take a stand in that witness box, all it takes is a learned gentleman clever enough to twist facts out of proportion, and everything changes, the dove of the holy spirit is painted to take the form of a vulture.

So this is what I do, I make sure my ass is covered; having made sure it is covered, I don't hide under that immunity and met out negligence with fragrant disregard; I still go the extra mile to give my clients the best I can with the limited resources I may have in a given circumstance. This is a clarion call to all doctors to do the same.
Be the doctor that goes the extra mile to save a life, but don't lose your hard earned license while doing so.
Fact is if you do, you would be robbing countless others out there, who would have benefitted from your clinical services in the future if you still had your license, of the opportunity to benefit from the same. Litigation is getting more and more popular by the second.

REFERENCES

• Ethics and medicolegal aspects of medical practice
• Difference Between Law and Ethics
• Empathy and Compassion
• Psychology and the Law