Law

Legal definitions of responsibility, accountability and liability

Marc Cornock clarifies the use of terms that are sometimes used interchangeably but have ramifications in law
called to account. there is also a difference between being responsible to, identifying the person or office to whom one is responsible and responsible for, and identifying the action, task or role for which one is responsible. taking responsibility does not necessarily mean one will be asked to give an account undertaking the action will fulfil the responsibility one has. the focus of responsibility is on the task, not on accounting for it. monitoring system, or because things are going right

distinct

summary
The purpose of this article is to legally define the terms responsibility, accountability and liability. The connection between these terms for registered childrens nurses, students and healthcare support

Accountability it can be said that accountability is a higherlevel activity than workers are discussed, along with the implications for professional responsibility in that it does practice. not merely designate who is responsible for an action but Keywords also requires that the person Accountability, law, liability, responsibility who undertakes the task is able to give an account, Whenever responsibiLity is defined, it appears to be in relation to accountability. reason or explanation for the this suggests the two are synonymous, but this is not the case. While there is action. this account is not correlation between the two, they are not interchangeable and have different necessarily given because meanings. At the most basic level, responsibility means to something has gone be responsible for an act one undertakes, while accountability simply means to be wrong. For instance, it may be required as a part of a

and there is a need to share this information for the benefit and education of as a form of legal or others. legislative accountability, the account that is required may take different forms, although for it to be true with the healthcare accountability it has to be a formal obligation to give account. For example, one professional having a legal may be required to account for the manner in which a particular treatment was obligation to answer to the given in the form of a straightforward narrative. Alternatively, the account may be law through the courts or to a more fulsome, including why regulatory body such as the a treatment was given, the circumstances that prompted the healthcare professional nursing and Midwifery to instigate the treatment and the rationale for decision making. Council (nMC). however, in accepting accountability, the healthcare professional accepts they may be with liability, in addition to required to justify their actions to explain the rationale that prompted the actions the requirement to give an account, there is and the consequences of their actions. also the possibility of a Liability this is a legal concept and implies there is a disadvantage to the sanction. this is a legal person who is liable. this disadvantage may be as simple as having to account punishment for the health for ones actions to a legal body or in a legal framework. Liability, therefore, professionals actions where may be seen
NURSING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

these are deemed to be unprofessional. in some circumstances, it may be the regulatory bodies themselves that provide the only legal comment that health professionals can rely on for example, the nMC (2008) code of conduct. it may be to these regulatory bodies that the health professional is required to demonstrate how they meet their liability and why they should not be sanctioned for their actions (Mchale and tingle 2007).

April 2011 | Volume 23 | Number 3 25

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