This document discusses the legal responsibilities of nurses practicing in Erbil, Iraq. It outlines three main sources of law that nurses are accountable to: civil law regarding violations of individuals' rights, criminal law protecting society, and regulatory law establishing standards of nursing practice. It describes the process for reporting safety concerns or errors, which can be done through the legal department of the Directorate of Health or directly to court. Disciplinary actions for violations may include warnings, temporary restrictions on practice, or criminal prosecution depending on the type and severity of the incident. Nurses must understand their legal obligations to deliver safe, quality care while respecting patient confidentiality.

1. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES
FOR PRACTICE
Hawler Medical University
By:
Raveen Ismael Abdullah
B.Sc in Nursing
Supervised
By:
Assist. Prof. Dr. Norhan Z. Shaker
July 16th
2017

2. Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1
Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 1
Source of law within Erbil health care system........................................................................... 2
Safety concern reporting and legal reactions within Erbil hospitals......................................... 2
Disciplinary Actions.................................................................................................................... 3
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 3

3. 1
Introduction
Health care services are provided to patients in an environment with complex interactions among
many factors, such as the disease process itself, clinicians, technology, policies, procedures, and
resources; when these complex factors interact, harmful and unexpected outcomes (e.g., errors)
can occur.
Nurses have responsibilities of delivering a safe care to their patients, if nurses know the source
of law, then they know how it can be challenged and changed; laws are put in place to control
social conduct in a formal and legally binding manner.
Laws are principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable
to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and
enforced by judicial decision.
Objectives
1. Identifying the main source of law within health care system.
2. Discussing main steps taken in legal investigations if any error were identified.

4. 2
Source of law within Erbil health care system
According to directorate of health in Erbil at legal department, there are three main laws that
Nurses and healthcare professionals are accountable for:
1. Civil law:
It involves violation of one person's rights by another person.
2. Criminal law :
Criminal laws were developed to protect society from actions that threaten its existence.
3. Regulatory law
Are rules and regulations that protect the safety of the public by defining standards for
nursing education and practice.
Safety concern reporting and legal reactions within Erbil hospitals
The process of reporting complains within the system of DOH in Erbil was not very common,
but recently it started to increase because of increasing the public awareness towards their civil
rights or it could be result of social media involvement .
Reporting of errors can be done legally through two options; direct error reporting to DOH-
legal department or direct complains reporting to court.
Complain reporting at legal department of DOH is a legal method of recording complains; after
error been reported through the legal department which responsible to investigate the situations
and identify the source of error, follow up the problem, and identify the violated rights; the legal
department is committed to form a legal committee which consists of three persons; lawyers,
specialist, and administrative person for investigations.
While the second type of reporting errors includes reporting errors directly to the court, court itself
is responsible of follow up, and it asks legal department of DOH to form a committee for scientific
causes of errors and problems after studying the facts.

5. 3
Disciplinary Actions
Refers to all penalties that may be imposed against an individual who has violated provisions
of licensing law; in case of violating patients rights based on civil law the punishments or
warnings decision is made .
Some nurses make the error of believing that "minor "violations are acceptable; errors that result
in serious injury or death of a patient are investigated and maybe prosecuted and tried by court
based on criminal law .
The rules and regulations for protection of public safety been established by government agencies
under name of administrative law.
In all the three types of complaints mentioned above, legal department of DOH has only
authority for frizzing the staff from working from 30-60 days, reprimand, and restriction on
practice such as working only under supervision. The rest of punishment like imprisoning is
made by judge in the court.
Unfortunately, the permanent removal of license is never done by court neither DOH.
Conclusion
Nurses need to understand the legalities involved in the delivery of safe health care, they have
obligation to deliver quality care and respect client confidentiality.
Caring for clients safely and avoiding legal difficulties require nurses to adhere to the expected
standards of care and document changes in client status carefully.