The development of the medicolegal field in the United States has followed an uneven course, marked by successions of rich and fallow periods. By the beginning of the nineteenth century a number of universities had qualified professors of medical jurisprudence on their faculties, and the field appeared to be in full flower. Yet, in 1876. a well-known American medical professor and dean, Stanford Emerson Chaille, wrote with some bitterness of the deplorable state of medical jurisprudence in this country. Today, there is considerable interest in the field, but the comparative dearth of medicolegal instruction at medical schools remains an issue.

This article briefly traces the development in the United States of the medicolegal field, which for our purposes encompasses the legal questions concerning medicine and allied sciences Selected advances in education and publishing are highlighted; lastly, the article reviews those problems which appear to have prevented the full development of this field.

The law of informed consent is in a state of flux. Originally a judicially-created doctrine, the doctrine varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in its theoretical basis for imposing liability (battery vs. negligence), the scope of the physician's duty to disclose (the “professional” vs. the. “prudent patient” standard), and, where negligence is the basis for the action, the requirement for finding proximate causation (subjective vs. objective basis). Many states have recently enacted statutes on informed consent which differ markedly in their provisions. Coexistent with this uncertainty about the precise form that the law should take, and perhaps underlying it, is a basic uncertainty about the purposes and rationale behind the informed consent doctrine, the feasibility of executing its dictates, and the effects of its application on the delivery of health care.

The Report of the National Commission on State Workers’ Compensation Laws heralded a new era for workers’compensation in the United States. Appointed by the President in 1970, the Commission issued its report in 1972, and pointed out the gross inadequacies of all the state systems. To compel the states to modernize their compensation laws, the Commission established 19 essential recommendations, and placed time limitations on the adoption of these standards by the states, with the threat that if these recommendations were not met by July 1975, the Commission would recommend to Congress that the non-complying state systems be taken over by the federal government and operated under the generally more liberal provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act.

Most health professionals today would agree about the necessity of interdisciplinary health care for clients. The optimal division of labor, however, has been a source of concern if not outright disagreement.

Literature on “professional status” and on the interrelationships of health professionals abounds, possibly leading one to the impression that everything worth saying has already been said. However, developments in health care and in professional education are of a dynamic rather than of a static nature. For this reason alone a reconsideration of the roles and relationships of health care team members is justified from time to time.

Determining whether the health care system meets the needs of service recipients is only one important reason for studying role interactions.

Most health professionals today would agree about the necessity of interdisciplinary health care for clients. The optimal division of labor, however, has been a source of concern if not outright disagreement.

Literature on “professional status” and on the interrelationships of health professionals abounds, possibly leading one to the impression that everything worth saying has already been said. However, developments in health care and in professional education are of a dynamic rather than of a static nature. For this reason alone a reconsideration of the roles and relationships of health care team members is justified from time to time.

Determining whether the health care system meets the needs of service recipients is only one important reason for studying role interactions.

Communication is an essential component of effective health care. Ideally, information to ensure continuous safe treatment and to prevent decisions or actions that can be harmful is transmitted among all who are involved in a patient's care, including the patient.

In the course of a normal day, a nurse processes a great volume of information about a patient. The nurse must decide which information calls for further action, which should be recorded in the patient's record, which should be reported to others involved in the patient's care, and which should be told to the patient or his family. Making such decisions about communication can present serious problems. A recent California case, Sanchez v. Bay General Hospital, illustrates what can happen when nurses fail to recognize the significance of certain patient information and therefore fail to communicate it or react to it properly.