Healthcare Law and Ethics, 7th edition

Published by Pearson (October 22, 2024) © 2025
Bonnie F. Fremgen

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Title overview

For courses in medical law or ethics.

A plain-language guide to the laws and ethics of healthcare

Healthcare Law and Ethics helps all health professionals respond to the legal and ethical dilemmas they’ll encounter in their chosen field. Written for the nonlawyer health professional, the title uses real legal cases and stimulating exercises to guide students through real applications of the material, across medical settings.

The thoroughly updated 7th Edition has been renamed Healthcare Law and Ethics to reflect its focus on the entire healthcare team. New examples and content cover the needs of many more healthcare disciplines, from advanced practice providers to medical assistants and emergency medical personnel.

Hallmark features of this title

Real-world applications

  • Legal case citations demonstrate how healthcare disciplines collaborate in patient care, while illuminating medical topics subject to US legal requirements.
  • Case studies at the start of each chapter demonstrate practical applications of chapter content.
  • Discussion cases in each chapter are great as assignments or to generate in-class debate.

Thinking critically about law and ethics

  • Put It into Practice activities at the end of each chapter prompt learners to contemplate everyday legal and ethical issues.
  • Points to Ponder questions help students evaluate how they might deal with today’s legal and ethical dilemmas in healthcare.
  • Short-answer, matching and multiple-choice exercises let students test their comprehension of chapter content.

New and updated features of this title

A more sweeping focus on the entire healthcare team

  • EXPANDED: New examples and content cover many more healthcare disciplines such as advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants), nurses, medical assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, respiratory therapists and emergency medical personnel.
  • ENHANCED: Reviewers from a variety of healthcare disciplines have helped to round out the content.

Legal and ethical responsibilities of the health professional

  • EXPANDED: Professional obligations are expanded upon in topics such as scope of practice and licensure (Ch. 2), patient rights (Ch. 5) and cultural considerations in medical practice (Chs. 8 and 14).
  • EXPANDED: Clinical obligations are now more fully addressed in sections covering substance use and misuse (Ch. 7), end-of-life issues (Chs. 11 and 13) and updates in reproductive care (Ch. 12).

Coverage of timely issues

  • EXPANDED: New chapter introductory cases cover issues such as hospitals being shut down by ransomware attacks (Ch. 9) and abortion after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision (Ch. 12).
  • NEW: A new section examines the ethics of healthcare advances (Ch. 14) such as telehealth, use of robotics, concierge healthcare and artificial intelligence.

Key features

Features of MyLab Health Professions for the 7th Edition

  • Chapter homework quizzes pose 30 to 40 questions about the content students have just read to see how well they understand it.
  • Chapter tests can be generated from the Pearson TestBank incorporated into the MyLab. You can assign the tests as homework or use them for online testing.
  • NEW: Credly badges can be earned and posted to job websites, resumes and professional portfolios. To earn a badge, students must achieve a set score on a comprehensive exam with 125 multiple-choice questions selected from across chapters.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction to Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Bioethics

PART 1: THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

  1. The Legal System
  2. Essentials of the Legal System for Healthcare Professionals
  3. Working in Today’s Healthcare Environment

PART 2: THE HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT

  1. The Patient Relationship
  2. Professional Liability and Medical Malpractice
  3. Public Duties of the Healthcare Professional
  4. Workplace Law and Ethics
  5. The Medical Record
  6. Patient Confidentiality and HIPAA

PART 3: HEALTHCARE ETHICS

  1. Ethical and Bioethical Issues in Healthcare
  2. Ethical Issues Related to the Beginning of Life
  3. Ethical Issues Related to the End of Life
  4. Trends in Healthcare

APPENDICES

  1. Codes of Ethics
  2. Case Citations

Author bios

About our author

Bonnie F. Fremgen, PhD, is a former associate dean of the Allied Health Program at Robert Morris College and was vice president of a hospital in suburban Chicago. She has taught medical law and ethics courses as well as clinical and administrative topics.

Dr. Fremgen has broad interests and experiences in the healthcare field, including hospitals, nursing homes and physicians’ offices. She currently has two patents on a unique circulation-assisting wheelchair. She is the author of Medical Terminology: A Living Language, also published by Pearson.

Dr. Fremgen holds a nursing degree as well as a master’s in healthcare administration. She received her PhD from the College of Education at the University of Illinois. She has performed postdoctoral studies in medical law at Loyola University Law School in Chicago.

Dr. Fremgen has taught ethics at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana; University of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan; and Saint Xavier University, Chicago, Illinois.

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