UNIT 1 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

UNIT 1 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - Essay Example Often legislation that is designed to provide equal access lacks resources at various state or regional levels to carry out its purpose. Oversight to insure that legislation is put into practice can be sporadic. These factors are among many others that explain why law is not an exact science. Those who are hired and elected to uphold the law possess their own views which can and do affect their own interpretation of the law and how they carry out their duties. Just as judges, legislators, police and others working to uphold the law can be biased, as can health care workers. Though OBRA89 was enacted in 1984 to include more children and pregnant women in the Medicaid program (Flint, 2006), this served to create more disparity in health care access. A comprehensive report by the Institute of Medicine in 2002 identifies health care worker bias as one of two major contributing factors in health care disparities (Watts, 2003). Specific prejudices include provider assumption of Medicaid pa tients in general to be less intelligent and more prone to substance abuse. Such attitudes create situations where patients are denied basic medical rights such as life support and pain medication, as they are deemed unworthy or undeserving. While law dictates that all patients be given equal and proper medical care, it is difficult in most situations, to determine if prejudice and subsequent malicious intent are the cause, as opposed to general overburden of a system. Practices in health care that are considered unlawful include use of excessive force, overmedicating, withholding medication, failure to provide adequate nutrition, selling prescriptions or any other act that causes further injury or general decline in health as a result of the action(Arkansas Attorney General).