LAW OF TORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

LAW OF TORT - Essay Example Failure to protect others from harm as a result of somebody’s conduct is known as negligence whereby a duty care will have been ignored. Against this background, this section of the essay seeks to critically assess the standard care owed by professionals compared to the normal test. From the above definition of tort, it is clear that everyone has a duty care to make sure that their actions do not harm their neighbours. However, with regards to this normal test, it does not always follow that duty care is owed by the third party which may result in loss of something which requires the plaintiff to prove that the resultant loss has been a result of the action of the third party. This emanates from the assertion that every individual has duty care to the neighbour. Thus, negligence in common cases ought to be proved by the plaintiff that he or she has been injured or suffered losses as a result of the conduct of the third party. In this case, the relationship between the parties involved may not be very distinct, the reason why the plaintiff has to prove that he has suffered for him to claim for damages from that resultant injury which would be unprecedented. Tort of negligence in this particular scenario will involve third parties which may not be directly related. Contrary to the normal test of tort, the standard of care owed by professionals is a bit clear and distinct. With regards to professionals, the duty of care owed to the other people is clearly distinct in most cases. For instance, at the workplace, it is the duty of the manager or the supervisor to ensure that the employees are conducting themselves in a way that will not cause harm to them. It is mainly believed that when workers are at work within the company promises, they are under the custody of the employer hence anything bad that may happen to them will be owed to the employer. In such a scenario, it is the duty of the employer to ensure that the day of duty care vested in him is not brea ched since this will warrantee some form of compensation. In the same vein, the day of duty care for children at school is owed to the teacher because he is the one with direct responsibility with the conduct of the kids. In other words, they are under the custody of the teacher so the standard care in this case is the responsibility of the teacher. The teacher will have been entrusted to take good care of the children so it is his duty to fulfil this trust vested in him. In some cases, a medical practitioner like a dentist or surgeon has a duty of care to his patients. In the event that he breaches that duty which may result in injury, shock or even financial loss falls under the tort of negligence and the professional involved will be liable for paying compensation. It is the duty of the medical practitioner to ensure that he does not cause further harm to the patient who has vested her trust in him knowing that he will be able to assist him. For example, Lord McMillan in Bourhill v Young [1943] AC 92 (HL) suggests that the crude view that law should only take account of physical injury has been discarded and it now takes into consideration injury by shock. So in the event that a patient has been traumatised in the custody of a physician, he or she will be liable to sue for damages and ultimately compensation. It is only professional acts that are caught by the assumption of responsibility

System Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

System Thinking - Essay Example The company has challenges in productivity since the personnel is not adequately equipped to the development of widgets and operations and management of the IS. The input devices to the IS that will be included in the improvement include computers (workstations), software, and people resources. The company has a challenge in the number of computers it owns. The workers in the establishment have to share the available computers, which lowers the output and productivity. The establishment must facilitate productivity by offering the involved employees up to date computers, for even the existing computers need some upgrading of both software and hardware (Waring, 1996, p. 56). Input devices such as touchpads, keyboards, and mouse should be upgraded for functionality purposes. This is because the current standard devices are in a dilapidated state. The output devices involved in the organization should cater for different team strategies. Although the development of widgets takes on a pe rsonal approach, the teams working on various concepts such as the graphics of a product need brainstorming. The use of printers as output devices will be quite expensive. Since one of the aims of improving performance is reducing the costs of production, cheaper methods of sharing data have to be acquired. I recommend the use of projectors in group and board meetings over the use of printed material. This is so as to lower the costs of production and help in brainstorming. Storage of the establishment can be achieved in two main ways, which include the use of a localized server and the use of an online-based server. This will act as a backup as well as remotely accessed by authorized individuals. The operating system that is to be used in the organization has to meet all the needs of the market and development environment. There are numerous OS systems available in the market, but I recommend the use of Windows 7 Ultimate edition. The reasons behind the recommendation include stabi lity of the OS and the availability of compatible software for the development of widgets. An example of the software that could be useful in the development of the widgets is the Adobe CS 5Master Suite. This is because it has some of its functions non-operable with the other OS platforms as well as a 32-bit system. The Windows 7 OS to be installed should, thus, incorporate the 64-bit system for maximum performance. The utility programs that will be used in the IS will help in management, maintenance, and protection of the company data and resources (Stair, Reynolds, & Reynolds, W. 2008, p. 138). Numerous utility programs should be used to ensure the safety and productivity of the computers. With the development of widgets, it is possible for developed codes to act as viruses; thus, the installation of a strong anti-virus in the network and computers is necessary. The anti-virus will also prevent the spread of viruses acquired from external sources and the network. Backup software w ill also be essential to the company since computers and networks may fail. System monitors will also be installed in the network to monitor the use of resource to determine when an upgrade of the current system is necessary. File managers are another type of utility program that should be incorporated in the IS to ensure the availability, management, and modification of data sets within the IS for easier information and knowledge base management. This may be of use if

How Social Policy Had An Impact On The Nhs Social Work Essay

How Social Policy Had An Impact On The Nhs Social Work Essay This essay is a discussion of how Social Policy had an impact to the National Health Service (NHS); the essay will pace the discussion in the context of some of the economic, political and social concepts that influence the development of social policy in the NHS. It also discusses the impact of the social policies in relation to social exclusion, inequality and/or poverty. While evaluating the effectiveness of these policies, it will explore the relationships among the different agencies involved in social welfare provision. Social policy is aimed to improve human welfare and meet human needs (Ken 2007 pg 1). During the 1942 Beveridge report on social security, it was recommended that a comprehensive national service should be developed to combat ill health after the Second World War. In 1944 proposals were brought up for the development of the NHS, legislation was passed in 1946 and in 1948 NHS started its operation after the National Health Act (1946). It provided a comprehensive service to the whole population at a relatively low cost. It was to be run nationally and mainly financed from taxation and a small token from National Insurance Fund and was substantially free at the point of delivery Howard (2000). All citizens had to be registered with a family doctor in order to receive free treatment for miner illness and be referred on to hospitals for those conditions that the General Practitioner (GP) could not treat. The NHS had popular support in the 1940s and in 1944 Henry Willink the conservative M inister of health, described the health proposals as representing the: very root of national vigour and national enterprisethe biggest single advance ever made in this country. Webster (1988), Howard (2000 pg98). Despite its achievements and popularity since the 1980s, the NHS has come under increasing pressure and strain from the conservative governments which have seen it as a burden on the economy. It has come under intensive criticism for being professionally dominated, unresponsive to consumers and internally inefficient and ineffective in the use of resources. And as a result in the 1990s the NHS and community Act come in to force and introduced changes that have been seen as the most radical since the 1946 Act that created the service. Though the NHS remained tax funded at the point of delivery, this Act recommended the introduction of an internal or quasi market and the introduction of a split of the NHS budget between those who purchased the services for their population and those who provide the services. The command and control model of the NHS with the Top-down directives was replaced by a system where the local purchasers negotiated contracts with the providers also emphasis was placed on introduction of audit system and better monitoring of performance. Purchasers (the districts) determined what services they wanted and who they should be bought. This means that the trading costs were a priority for the purchasers than the quality of the services. The aim of the conservative government in introducing the markets was to drive up standards and increase accountability (Enthoven, 1985). The conservative government came into power in May 1979 strongly influenced by the political philosophy of the New Right government policy in general strongly promoted business and private enterprise and sought to discourage individuals and families from succumbing to welfare dependency. Reliance on the market (not the state), increased the competition and to a greater choice for individuals- consumer sovereignty- were the principles which underpinned a plethora of policies during the 1980s and 1990s. Individualism was lauded over collectivism Dorey (2005:p.104). Thatcher applied policies of Milton Friedmans monetarism (1980) that aimed at controlling inflation by reducing government borrowing and subsidise industries through privatisation. This involved selling government funded services to companies and individuals who had money to invest Jenkins, (1987). The main aim was to raise money and pay off the government debts and to improve efficiency of nationalised industries. The Natio nal Health Service was not privatised but was reorganised into parts, the medical which was dealt with by the government while the ancillary was privatised to competitive tenders from private companies (cheap bidders win). It was assumed that competition would increase efficiency, reduce costs, create social justice in order for everybody to get equal treatment and discipline medical behaviour. But all this did not work out as planned. For example hospitals were not properly cleaned leading to an increase of infections like Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus skin infection (MRSA) and Clostridium Difficile (CDF). It can be argued that the Thatchers politically influenced policy reforms were aiming at privatisation through the creation of market which is contrary to the foundation principles of NHS which are free at the point of delivery. This argument leads one to question whether Thatcher had prepared the NHS for these radical reforms. But also one wonders if the government had planned how the poor would access NHS services without being excluded on financial merit. King (2005) asserts that there was no immediate overhaul of the NHS in order to render it compatible with and complementary to these new values as it encouraged greater use of private health care while from 1983, health authorities were required to contract out domestic, catering and laundering service. In relation to poverty and inequality, it can be argued that this policy created unemployment for those who lost their jobs during the privatisation and also those who could not afford to pay for private health care; they were excluded from accessing the services. However, Haus argues that Margaret Thatcher saved the British economy by bringing both the inflation and unemployment under control and by creating a more dynamic private sector they called a third way that combines the best aspects of the socialist commitment to equality and market economy. But to her opponents, Haus says that they viewed her policies as new problems and exacerbated existing ones by widening the gap between rich and the poor and by allowing public services to deteriorate (Haus 2009). Much as the privatisation policy appears controversial from Haus perspective, the element of controlling inflation and saving the British economy from the 1980s depreciation implies that there were economic drivers that influenced Margaret Thatcher to reform the policies. This argument is supported by Alcock. He states that social policy development is also closely dependent upon the economic structure of the society and upon the economic growth within it (Alcocks 2008: p.198). One of the new Labours main objectives when elected in 1997 was to make significant improvement in the NHS and in line with that the NHS was to be rebuilt. The government put forward its plans in a White paper. (The new NHS Morden dependable Department of Health 1997). Following the publication of the white paper on the NHS in 1997 and a various other consultation document, wide ranging health reforms were discussed which led to the Heath Act 1999. This Act brought key changes in the NHS. The internal markets which were introduced by the Thatcher government in the 1990s were replaced by a new policy which encouraged co-operation and partnership between health services and between the NHS social services and other care providers. In 2001 primary care groups were established in every area of England with the aim of running the health services. The primary care groups were formed by local groups of doctors and nurses, theses organisations were to oversee the delivery of primary health care to the local community through family doctors. They also directed resources available to the NHS trust and other health service organisation (Blackmoore, 2003). The health Act 1999 together with the health Act 2001 led to the introduction of the Primary Care Trusts which were meant to run health and social service jointly. According to Downey ( 2001 p 34) the health and social Act of 2001 led to a radical shake up of the social service never seen in three decades. The Labour government under Tony Blair made significant changes to the doctors contracts due to economic factors, mainly limitations of the capitation system in GP funding. Instead it introduced what was termed as modern contracts for GPs and hospital doctors. The contracts were to be quality based and doctors were paid on condition upon reaching certain performance targets. GPs were required to meet specified improvements in preventative care as well as quality of their services to patients. The General Practitioners (GPs) were budgeted and were expected to work within those budgets to meet the needs of their patients. They were rewarded if they managed to work within their budge ts and given additional money for running health promotional clinics. They were to shop around for the cheapest provider for their patients. However as they were reluctant to accept patients who would drain on their budgets thus care for the people who needed it most in most cases suffer. Shaun et al (2001). Inspection of the health service was introduced together with the central regulation. This meant that the health care standards and health service delivery were to be monitored by an organisation known as the national institute for clinical excellence. This body was to decide which drugs and new treatments are to be available to patients free on the NHS. In line with the above, another regulatory body was set up. It was known as the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI). This body was to inspect the standards of hospital and primary care. In fact this body was meant to act as Ofsted in providing league tables of schools and colleges but for CHI it created hospital performance league tables by publishing patients survival rates after various hospitals and operations. In contrast however, the publication of league tables with ranking of performance, create negative impact to the primary care trusts and hospital located at the bottom of the table that they provide worst services. It also creates negative impact on the public trust and professional moral because staff may be demoralised in reaching its maximum potential for better services if their hospital is considered to be under performing. Again the use of league tables do not really reflect the quality of hospital treatment, because they include a small number of key clinical areas and doubt go into detail about the process of care. What they really show is the effectiveness of trusts management team rather than standard of clinical care. More so, even if patients are aware of their local hospital performance, they have no choice about where to get better treatment because hospital referrals are decided by GPs. In 1997, the labour government under Blair recommended a welfare review. However, there was no attempt to reverse the changes made by Thatcher and accepted that there can be no return to the Golden Age. The main welfare provision that Labour introduced is called WELFARE TO WORK, A NEW DEAL. It was aimed at helping groups especially young, lone parents and long-term unemployed who rely on benefits, to find work and support themselves. Labours approach was to find a third way between the Golden Age welfare state and the conservative changes. The government introduced a minimum wage to make-work more attractive than claiming benefits. The Blair government did a lot to improve the NHS and in 2002 Blair staked the future of his government to improve the NHS. The distribution of wealth in Britain saw a number of arguments, which were about equality, and the impact of welfare state on various sectors in society. Capitalist do not fund welfare systems as the workers pay for it through direct taxation; they pay for their own health. Poor people carry far more of the tax burden in real terms than the wealthy because the cost of the indirect tax such as VAT on items such as beer and cigarettes take a large portion of their income (Shaun et al, 2000) the wealthy benefits more the welfare state than do the poor such as tax relief on mortgages. Socialist. The socialists argue that the welfare of individuals is the responsibility of the state. They argue for redistribution of income through taxation so that the rich can fund the welfare of the poor. They wish to change the structure of the society to benefit the poor and bridge the gap between rich and poor. The socialists argue in favour of universal access to welfare and are opposed to targeting benefit. Liberals. They argue that welfare is needed to support capitalism and to support the poor. Writers such as Anthony Giddens, suggest that the state cannot leave some of the problems to market forces to solve because these problems are too big or too complicated .The liberals sort out problems as they arise without either looking for them or allowing any rigidly held views influencing common sense views of the events. In conclusion welfare state developed due to a number of factors contributing poverty, sickness, high levels of unemployment after the Second World War. The recommendations of the Beveridge report about the five evil giants influenced the government to introduce the welfare state and to the subsequent changes to the NHS.

Old Leisure - Literary Devices :: essays research papers

History has seen advancements in technology, philosophy, and industry, all of which radically changed the lives of those witnessing such developments. Slower, more relaxed lifestyles have given way to lifestyles of a faster paced nature. George Eliot describes her preference for the leisure of the past, conveying the message that the rushed leisure of her time is hardly leisure at all. She accomplishes this by using several stylistic devices, including personification, imagery, and diction. The most obvious stylistic device used by Eliot is that of personification. She uses this device to create two people from her thoughts on old and new leisure. The fist person is New Leisure, who we can infer to be part of the growth of industry in the 19th century. He is eager and interested in science, politics, and philosophy. He reads exciting novels and leads a hurried life, attempting to do many things at once. Such characteristics help us to create an image of New Leisure as Eliot sees him. Old Leisure is quite contrasting to New Leisure. Being a stout country squire of the 18th century, he is laid back, simple minded, well fed, and financially well off. He reads but one newspaper and favors Sunday services that "allow him to sleep." "He never went to Exeter Hall, or heard a popular preacher, or read Tracts for the Times or Sartor Resartus." He is not bothered by his "inability to know the causes of things" and sleeps "the sleep of the irresponsible." Eliot describes Old Leisure more than New Leisure because today's readers are familiar enough with living a life as hurried and fast paced as New Leisure's. Her description of Old Leisure is nostalgic of a slower paced way of life. While Eliot uses human characteristics and actions to describe Old and New Leisure, she also creates images of both personages to further depict their contrasting lifestyles. The images of Old Leisure include him "scenting the apricots when they were warmed by the morning sunshine." They also depict portraits of life in Old Leisure's era as "slow waggons," "spinning wheels," and "pedlars, who brought bargains to the door on a sunny afternoon." They also tell of how Old Leisure "fingered the guineas in his pocket" and was "fond of sauntering by the fruit-tree wall." New Leisure, on the other hand, does not live in a world where such images are present. He is ""prone to cursory peeps through microscopes" and is "prone to excursion- trains, art museums, periodical literature, and exciting novels.

Discuss Ethical Issues in the Use of Non-Human Animals in Research in Psychology (15 Marks)

Animal testing became a vital feature of psychological research in the 1800’s, as it was more economic and quick way of testing hypothesis on living beings. Due to an increase in sometimes cruel animal research, in 1986 the BPS outlined the UK animals (scientific procedures) act. This act laid out measures to be considered when licensing of animal research was being sought. Some of these criteria were: benefits to outweigh the costs, minimum possible amount of animals to be used and mice are preferred over animals such as monkeys or horses.Although there is legislation in place to prevent suffering to animals, Dunnayer (2002) states that â€Å"making something legal doesn’t make it right†. It its leaning towards the notion that legislation simply serves to set standards involving the imprisonment, torturing and killing of defenceless animals. Animal testing gains a lot of attention in the media for being unethical and unfair towards animals that do not have their own voice to be heard.One advantage of animal testing is that it is possible to carry out procedures on other species that simply would not be allowed on humans. Examples include Brady’s executive monkey, Morgan’s hamsters, Pavlov’s dogs etc. This is because humans are seen as having more ethical rights than animals due to the Marxist view that homo-sapiens â€Å"contribute towards society† whereas animals do not. Another point is that generations of animals can be studied in a relatively short period of time.This is beneficial when researching a drugs long term effects and want to know if it will affect offspring. Clearly, this kind of study would not be viable on humans since you could be waiting 30 years; whereas rats can reproduce and reach sexual peak very quickly. Thirdly, we can draw comparisons between the causes and function of animal and human behaviour due to the similarity of our brains; underlying structures of the midbrain for example are q uite similar across all mammals and other biological processes.This may lead us to believe that there is continuity in function and effects imposed from external factors being manipulated will be very similar between an animal and a human. In stark contrast, generalising from one species to another is difficult. Each species has adapted to survive in its natural environments. As a result, each species has its own unique set of behaviours. Koestler (1970) referred to generalising from rats to humans as ‘ratomorphism’. He also found that morphine has a calming effect on humans and rats, but on cats and mice it auses mania. Ecological validity poses another problem within animal research as experiments are carried out under laboratory setting, where humans wouldn’t be caged, animals are. This will inevitably cause distress to the animal and cause abnormal behaviour such as self-mutilation and pacing (Dunnayer (2002) however the UK animals procedures act does state r esearchers should ensure the environment is appropriate for the species being used and where possible a naturalistic environment should be used).Other behaviours such as mating may become inhibited like with captive pandas. Finally, animals are unable to verbalise what they are feeling. This sets human apart from other species, animals show limited behaviour to indicated the effects of drugs, theories etc. For example, we can understand when an animal is in pain or distressed, but not the extent to which they are suffering which may be crucial in research results. This could affect the validity of a study.

Cognitive behavioral Essay

Although panic disorder may occur without agoraphobia, the latter is generally linked to the former due to the extreme fear of the patients for embarrassment as he or she experiences panic attack in public places. In this case, panic disorder patients avoid populated social settings like grocery, church, and theaters. They prefer safe places like home and to be with safe people like parents in order to avoid embarrassment during a panic attack. This avoidance is further aggravated by the anticipatory anxiety as the patient imagines what possibly might happen when he or she experiences panic attack in public places. The tendency for the disparity in the diagnosis of panic disorder is blamed with its comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders. This is highly observed among individuals with substance-abuse history, especially those who have taken benzodiapine in self-medication as well as those who consume alcoholic drinks heavily. As well, around 75% of patients had major depression while experiencing panic disorder (Hirschfeld, 1996). On the other hand, the non-specificity of the patient’s conditions, laboratory tests and physical examination are employed to rule out the complication symptoms brought by other medical disorders like hypoglycemia, pheochromocytoma, and thyrotoxicosis. In connection to this, the echocardiogram and electrocardiogram, ECG, are used to detect cardiovascular disorders like mitral valve prolapse and paroxysmal atrial tachycardia which symptoms are similar to panic disorders. As revealed by medical studies, 43% of patients with reported chest pain but have normal coronary angiogram were typically associated with panic disorder. This was also true for referred patients for cardiac examination. Nonetheless, panic disorder was the primary diagnosis among patients referred for medical tests specific for irritable bowel syndrome and pulmonary function. Panic Disorder Treatment Although a number of therapeutic interventions have been employed in the treatment of panic disorder, only the traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy was empirically proven to cause reduction in the frequency and intensity of panic attacks (Arntz, 2002). Based on the cognitive-behavioral model, any psychiatric disorder is a product of behavioral, psychological, and biological factors (Sudak, Beck, and Wright, 2003). In addition, genetic predisposition and psycho-sociological factors trigger the development of mental health problem in an individual. The effect of such largely depends on the capacity of the individual to endure the changes brought by these factors and the availability of environmental scaffold. Specifically, in the cognitive-behavioral approach of treatment, patients are informed about and trained to control their thoughts that trigger anxiety. These thoughts are misinterpretation of internal or external events which result to the perception of threat. In such manner, their thoughts generate tremulous bodily responses such as fast beating of the heart and shortness of breath. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy The cognitive-behavioral therapy has five domains in the treatment of anxiety disorders among children and adolescents. Information about the disorder and its stressors are provided by means of psycho-education component while the correct autonomic arousal and other physiological responses are done through somatic management (Sudak, Beck, and Wright, 2003). In addition, the development of cognitive restructuring are designed for the identification of the source of negative thoughts then substitution with positive thoughts to reinforce coping mechanisms (Sudak, Beck, and Wright, 2003). Moreover, the exposure domain, conditions the individual to appropriately face the cause of negative thoughts while the relapse prevention is designed to consolidate and generalize treatment gains (Sudak, Beck, and Wright, 2003).