Chapter 2: Key Terms

Question 1

Good samaritan laws

Answer 1

state laws designed to protect certain care providers of they deliver the standard of care in good faith to the level of their training and to the best of their abilities

Question 2

duty

Answer 2

legal obligation to act; for EMRs, the legal obligations to provide medical care

Question 3

standard of care

Answer 3

care that should be provided by responders at each level of training based on local laws administrative orders, and guidelines and protocols established by the local EMS system

Question 4

Ethics

Answer 4

moral principles that define behavior as right, good, and proper

Question 5

consent

Answer 5

legal term that means to give formal permission for something to happen

Question 6

capacity

Answer 6

refers to patients legal rights and ability to make decisions concerning their medical care

Question 7

competence

Answer 7

patients mental ability to comprehend the situation and make rational decisions regarding their medical care

Question 8

expressed consent

Answer 8

competent adults decision to accept emergency care

Question 9

informed consent

Answer 9

consent granted by a patient after they have been appropriately informed of the care being suggested and associated consequences

Question 10

unresponsive

Answer 10

having no reaction to verbal or painful stimuli; also referred to as unconscious

Question 11

implied consent

Answer 11

legal form of consent that assumes that a patient who lacks capacity or competency to provide consent would provide consent to receiving emergency care if they were able. This form of consent may apply in situations where the patient is a minor, is unresponsive, or lacks capacity

Question 12

emancipated minor

Answer 12

minor whose parents or guardians have surrendered the right to their care, custody and earnings and no longer to support the minor

Question 13

criminal law

Answer 13

body of law dealing with crimes and punishment

Question 14

battery

Answer 14

unlawful physical contact

Question 15

advance directive

Answer 15

legal document that allows a patient to define in advance what their wishes are should they become incapacitated due to medical illness or serious injury

Question 16

negligence

Answer 16

failure to provide the expected standard of care

Question 17

duty to act

Answer 17

requirement that Emergency Medical Responders at least while on duty, must provide care according to a set standard

Question 18

abandonment

Answer 18

to leave a sick or injured patient before equal or highly trained personnel can assume responsibility

Question 19

confidentiality

Answer 19

refers to the treatment of information that an individual has disclosed in a relationship of trust and with expectation that it will not be divulged to others

Question 20

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Answer 20

HIPAA; law that dictates the extent to which protected health information can be shared

Question 21

mandated reporter

Answer 21

an individual required by law to report (or cause a report to be made) whenever financial, physical, sexual, or other types of abuse or neglect have been observed or are suspected