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PARTNERS OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL: 617-726-8625; beeper 26832
A lawyer is on call at all times in the Office of the General Counsel
(OGC) to handle legal questions related to patient care issues and
other urgent hospital legal matters. Hospital personnel who need to
consult the attorney on call during normal business hours should call
the OGC at 617-726-8625. When emergencies arise outside normal business
hours, hospital personnel may page the attorney on call through the
page operator at beeper 26832.
Most hospital emergencies do not require legal involvement. Indeed,
many questions typically posed to the attorney on call could be resolved
by referring to the hospital's policy manual or by consulting with
a supervisor or the administrator on call.
If an urgent patient care issue cannot be resolved by referring to
a manual or by consulting with a supervisor or administrator, the
health care team should designate a representative clinician (not
a clerical or administrative employee) to contact the attorney on
call. That representative should have sufficient information about
the patient's condition, treatment options and involvement of any
family members, and be senior enough to make decisions about the patient's
course of treatment. It is essential that the representative inform
the attorney on call if there is disagreement about the appropriate
course of treatment among members of the team.
The attorney on call will assume that the representative will accurately
relay the lawyer. s advice to other members of the team. If the advice
is unclear to other members of the team, however, they should contact
the attorney on call directly. When the call concerns foregoing or
withdrawing life-sustaining treatment or other highly sensitive matters,
the attorney on call will want to speak to the patient's attending
physician.
While the OGC welcomes the opportunity to provide legal assistance
in patient care and other matters that arise in the hospital context,
it cannot provide legal advice to employees or patients regarding
their personal affairs.
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