Friday, January 14, 2011

How A Bill Becomes A... Statute?

7:25 PM | Posted by Kari
Reading day = success!  Sans the highlighter.  Turns out, I couldn't find one at Barnes and Noble.  I did, however, find coffee.  Which pushed me through some power reading about the basics of law.  Gotta understand the basics to talk about case law and medical ethics.

Turns out this class is going to be a goldmine of things to write about.  But I thought I'd start off light before diving into tort reform, assisted suicide, advanced directives, informed consent, and the like. 

How many of you remember the School House Rock video, "How a Bill Becomes a Law"?  If you weren't fortunate enough to see it in 5th grade... and 6th... and 7th... as a kiddo, now's your chance.  It's only 3 minutes long, so indulge yourself. 


First of all, Bill is so cute.  If all Bills were as cute and desperate sounding as he is, I think maybe we'd have more laws...  But that's beside the point.  Lets get to what I learned today.  Bills passed by congress become STATUTES!  But "How a Bill Becomes a Statute" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?  The video is not inaccurate.  A statute is law, but not all laws are statutes.  They can be regulations or executive orders (out of the executive branch), or case law (out of the judicial branch).  Who knew.  I'm sure lots of you did... but I didn't. 

So there you go.  Lesson of the day.  Oh, and I also learned that Nebraska doesn't have a bicameral legislature.  Now seriously, who knew?!?!

In all seriousness, I already have a ton of things I'm itching to write about that are much more serious.  They dive into the ethics and laws governing medicine, which are sometimes not necessarily congruent...

Stay tuned.
Kari

PS.  I sincerely apologize to those of you who are now singing "I'm just a Bill, yes I'm only a Bill, and I'm sitting here on capital hill"...  Don't worry, I'm singing it too.

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About Me

I am a Family Medicine intern at a community hospital in Indiana, navigating the new world of being a physician. I am privileged to work in a field I love, where every day is a new and unpredictable challenge.
I am not only a doctor, but also a cyclist, runner, DIYer in the making, lover of the outdoors, traveler, and human.
Human, MD is a glimpse into the world of a young doctor who is just trying to stay true to herself through the grueling whirlwind of residency.

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