To Sign or Not to Sign

This past week, I researched arbitration clauses in healthcare practices. I chose this topic because one of my how-to pages for my final product is titled "How to Understand and Navigate Arbitration Clauses in Healthcare Contracts."

Reading the article "Illegality and Arbitration: A Health Lawyer’s Dilemma," I learned two main points. 

First, I learned more specifically what an arbitration clause is. The definition the article used is as follows: "When parties to various agreements believe they wish [...] to have arbitrators decide a matter rather than the courts." I interpreted this to be as patients signing away their seventh amendment right. A benefit of this is that it saves time and cost for businesses. A concern is whether or not arbitration courts have the authority to decide the legality of a contract.

Secondly, I learned the three types of contracts: One that is void from the start. One that might be unenforceable due to the law changing, affecting a previous arrangement. The third is one that has valid, initial documents, but due to actions by one of the parties, it might be unenforceable. 

Overall, this article was helpful for the creation of my final product. I will use the information I learned from it to fully create a useful how-to guide for understanding arbitration clauses.