Ch 4 Medical, Legal, and Ethical Issues Flashcards
A set of regulations and ethical considerations that define the scope, or extent and limits, of the EMT’s job
Scope of practice
For an EMT providing care for a specific patient in a specific situation, the care that would be expected to be provided by an EMT with similar training when caring for a patient in a similar situation
Standard of care
Permission from the patient for care or other action by the EMT
Consent
Consent given by adults who are of legal age and are mentally competent to make a rational decision with regard to their medical well-being
Express consent
Literally ‘in place of a parent’ indicating a person who may give consent for care of a child when a parent is not present or able to give consent (eg school, babysitter)
In loco parentis
The consent it is presumed patients or their parents or guardians would give if they could, such as for an unconscious patient or a child whose parents cannot be contacted when care is needed
Implied consent
Being held legally responsible
Liability
Placing a person in fear of bodily harm
Assault
Causing bodily harm to or restraining a person
Battery
A legal document, usually signed by both patient and physician, which states that the patient has a terminal illness and does not wish to prolong life through resuscitative efforts
Do not resuscitate (DNR) order
A DNR order; instructions written in advance of an event
Advance directive
Physician order that states not only the patient’s wishes regarding resuscitation attempts but also the patient’s wishes regarding artificial feeding, antibiotics, and other life-sustaining care if the patient is unable to state those desires later
Physician’s Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
A finding that there was failure to act properly in a situation in which there was a duty to act, that needed care as would reasonably be expected of the EMT was not provided, and that harm was caused to the patient as a result
Negligence
A civil, not a criminal, offense; an action or injury caused by negligence from which a lawsuit may arise
Tort
A Latin term meaning ‘the thing speaks for itself’
Res ipsa loquitur
An obligation to provide care to a patient
Duty to act
Leaving a patient after care has been initiated and before the patient has been transferred to someone with equal or greater medical training
Abandonment
Regarding personal standards or principles of right and wrong
Moral
Regarding a social system or social or professional expectations for applying principles of right and wrong
Ethical
A series of laws, varying by state, designed to provide limited legal protection for citizens and some health care personnel when they are administering emergency care
Good Samaritan laws
The obligation not to reveal information obtained about a patient except to other health care professionals involved in the patient’s care or under subpoena or in a court of law or when the patient has signed a release
Confidentiality
Includes the Privacy Rule protecting the privacy of patient-specific health care information and providing the patient with control over how this information is used and distributed
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
False, injurious information in written form
Libel
False, injurious information stated verbally
A person who has completed a legal document that allows for donation of organs and tissues in the event of death
Organ donor
A law that permits a person to drop off an infant or child at a police, fire, or EMS station or to deliver the infant or child to any available public safety personnel
“Safe haven” law
The location where a crime has been committed or any place that evidence relating to a crime may be found
Crime scene
