Chapter 2: legal accountability of the paramedic.

Question 1

Ryan White care act

Answer 1

Allows the provider who’s been exposed to certain diseases access to medical records to determine if the patient has tested positive for or is exhibiting signs and symptoms of an infectious disease.

Question 2

Negligence

Answer 2

Deviation from accepted standards of care recognized by law.

Question 3

What are the four components of a negligence claim?

Answer 3

Must prove duty to act, a breach of duty, actual damages to the patient or other individual, and proximate cause.

Question 4

Duty to act

Answer 4

A formal contractual or informal legal obligation to provide care.

Question 5

Breach of duty

Answer 5

When a paramedic does not exercise the degree of care, skill, and judgment that would be expected under like circumstances by a similar retrained, reasonable paramedic in the same community.

Question 6

Malfeasance

Answer 6

Performance of wrongful or unlawful act

Question 7

Misfeasance

Answer 7

Performance of a bagel act in a manner that is harmful or injurious

Question 8

Nonfeasance

Answer 8

Failure to perform a required act or duty

Question 9

Actual damages

Answer 9

Refers to compensable physical, psychological, or financial harm.

Question 10

Proximate cause

Answer 10

Action or interaction of the paramedic that immediately caused or worsened the damage suffered by the patient.

Question 11

Borrowed servant doctrine

Answer 11

Responsibility of a care provider to supervise those with less training than them. They may be held accountable for negligent acts of those under them under certain conditions.

Question 12

Defamation

Answer 12

Unintentional false communication that injures another person’s reputation or good name

Question 13

Libel

Answer 13

The active injuring a person’s character, name, or reputation by false statements made in writing or through the mass media with malicious intent or reckless disregard for the falsity of those statements.

Question 14

Slander

Answer 14

Active injuring a person’s character, name, or reputation by false or malicious statements spoken with malicious intent or reckless disregard for the falsity of those statements.

Question 15

What five pieces need to be in place in order to have informed consent?

Answer 15

1) nature of the illness or injury
2) nature of the recommended treatments
3) risks, dangers, and benefits of those treatments.
4) alternative treatment possibilities, if any, and the related risks, damages, and benefits of excepting each one.
5) dangers of refusing treatment and/or transport

Question 16

Abandonment

Answer 16

The termination of the paramedic– patient relationship without providing for the appropriate continuation of care well it is still needed and desired by the patient.

Question 17

Assault

Answer 17

And at the unlawfully places a person in apprehension of immediate bodily harm without his consent.

Question 18

Battery

Answer 18

The unlawful touching of another individual without consent.

Question 19

False imprisonment

Answer 19

Intentional and unjustifiable detention of the person without his consent or other legal authority.