Posted by Todd (64.34.202.197) on December 26, 2000 at 21:42:01:
In Reply to: Waterdog is right posted by Nancy on December 26, 2000 at 20:26:27:
Personally, I neither attacked Dog nor disputed the overall content of his post - merely the portion which stated that this was a new Federal Law. In fact, I posted a link to the article on CNN he quoted in my first reply.
Try as I might, though, I can't find a single source that says a new law has been passed. I have found several sources indicating that a new standard was adopted by JCAHO last July, with an effective date of Jan 1. The link below is to the full text of this standard.
If, in fact, there is a new Federal Law which addresses this same issue, that would be very valuable information for us. On the other hand, if it isn't a law, but rather an accreditation standard, that would cause us to take a different tact when dealing with hospitals and clinics. Not all are JCAHO accredited, for example. Those who aren't have no obligation to follow this standard.
Knowledge is power. False knowledge is useless.