Know Your Law

Author: Dada Damilola Gideon Edited and published by Okediya Peter O. What is medical negligence?    The medical profession is seen by most as a very noble profession because it seeks to preserve and protect life. It is also believed that life and good health is God given, so to be used by God to save life is seen as a privilege by some [1] . Medical malpractice is a professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community, and subsequently causes death or injury to the patient. In the majority of cases, the medical malpractice or negligence involved a medical error, possibly in diagnosis, medication dosage, health management, treatment or aftercare. The error may have been because nothing was done (an act of omission), or a negligent act. [2] Medical malpractice cases arise when a patient is harmed by a doctor or nurse (or other medical professional) who f...

  Author: Dada Damilola Gideon Edited And published by Okediya Peter O. Medical malpractice or negligence as may be termed and its relation to law is a lengthy one [1] , and so this work is merely a skeletal aspect in relation to how vast this field of study is. The fact that no specific area of medical malpractice is being focused on goes to further show how relatively minute this work would be in relation to the entirety of Medical Malpractice, not only in Nigeria but the world at large. Despite the fact that this work might be relatively small compared to the entire field, it is yet very informative, enlightening and very useful. Medical malpractice is not an issue that begun just recently, it has being present for a very long time. The earliest reported medical malpractice case was Stratton V Swanlond [2] , and the case was decided in 1347. [3] It is surprising how medical malpractice or negligence causes a lot of deaths. According to the Journal of the Americ...

Author: Dada Damilola Gideon Published by: Okediya Peter O. If Laws go against morals, which one should an individual obey or disobey? Is there a moral obligation to obey all Laws, even though immoral?   Since there are contrasting views as to what Laws should be influenced by (morals or the social situation in the society), different people have their own stand points, but in essence, different societies go against morality in different ways such as; Laws legalising polygamy: in some societies, polygamy is legalised and therefore not a crime. In some other societies, polygamy is not legalised, claiming that it is immoral and not normal (against the normal nature of happening) Legalisation of Abortion: abortion involves termination of pregnancy, before the time of delivery. In some countries, abortion at whatever time and stage of the pregnancy is allowed, but in other countries like Nigeria, abortion is illegal due to its moral meaning. Legalisatio...

Author: Dada Damilola Gideon Published by: Okediya Peter Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality can also be seen as standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture. It may also be regarded as godly or right living. At first instance, there seems to be no distinction between Law and morality. The word morality is gotten from the word morals, and it means doing things in a moral way. Morals are those things which are considered as right, from the conscience and reasoning of any right thinking human. Many scholars over the years have argued that there is a big distinction between morals and actual Law, while others have argued that there is no distinction between the two. In actual sense, there is actually a big difference between what is morally right, and what is legally right. Plato, a great philosopher, suggeste...

                                    Law, coercion and morality are inter-related and connected concepts or principles that are operational in every modern day Legal Society. These concepts, even if related and connected still have their peculiar meanings, functional understandings and mode of operation in any society. These concepts are all to an extent vague on first sight, and cannot be understood extensively without in-depth analysis of the concepts. These concepts or principles all have dictionary meanings, but in a legal setting, the dictionary meanings would not suffice. In simple and lay man terms, Laws are rules made by a body vested with power, to regulate the activities and dealings of people in a society. This definition has many loop holes, and its mentions are all very questionable and debateable. Coercion on the other hand can be d...