Legal medicine in the United States of America (USA)

Abstract

This chapter introduces some of the complex legal and ethical issues with which medicine deals in the USA. There is no one entity which can be called “Legal Medicine in the USA.” There are multiple medical and legal licensure jurisdictions across the 50 states and the territories. Judicially determined case law, legislative law, and regulatory requirements all differ from state to state. What is legal in one state (such as medical use of marijuana) is illegal in others. Health care itself is delivered by a wide variety of private, public, charitable, and religious organizations with variable legal requirements and ethical positions. There is a great need for specialists in the field of legal medicine because of the complexity and diversity of the subject matter across the country. Legal medicine in the USA is an academically recognized specialty combining the two professions. There are 21 colleges offering dual degree doctor-lawyer programs and over 4,000 dual degree physician-lawyers. The American College of Legal Medicine is recognized as representing a medical specialty by the American Medical Association.