CHAPTER 3 Flashcards
Unilateral termination of care by the EMT without the patient’s consent and without making provisions for transferring care to another medical professional with the skills and training neccessary to meet the needs of the patient
Abandonment
Written document that specifies medical treatment for a competent patient should the patient become unable to make decisions; also called a living will or health care directive.
Advance directive
The manner in which principles of ethics are incorporated into professional conduct.
Applied Ethics
Unlawfully placing a patient in fear of bodily harm.
Assault
Unlawfully touching a patient or providing emergency care without consent
Battery
The study of ethics related to issues that arise in health care.
Bioethics
Disclosure of information wtihout proper authorization
Breach of confidentiality
Damages awarded in a civil lawsuit that are intended to restore the plaintiff to the same condition that he or she was in prior to the incident.
Compensatory damages
Able to make rational decisions about personal well-being
Competent
In the context of EMS, permission to render care.
Consent
A legal defense that may be raised when the defendant feels that the conduct of the plaintiff somehow contributed to any injuries or damages that were sustained by the plaintiff
Contributory Negligence
An established process to determine the qualifications necessary to be allowed to practice a particular, or to function as an organization.
Credentialing
Ability to understand and process information and make a choice regarding appropriate medical care.
Decision-making capacity
The communication of false information about a person that is damaging to that person’s reputation or standing in the community.
Defamation
Blood settling to the lowest point of the body, causing discoloration of the skin; a definitive sign of death
Dependent Lividity
Oral questions asked of parties and witnesses under oath.
Depositions
The phase of a civil lawsuit where the plaintiff and defense obtain information from each other that will enable the attorneys to have a better understanding of the case, which will assist in negotiating a possible settlement or in preparing for trial. This phase includes despositions, interrogatories, and demands for production of records.
Discovery
Written documentation by a physician giving permission to medical personnel not to attempt resuscitation in the event of cardiac arrest.
Do not resuscitate order (DNR)
A type of advance directive executed by a competent adult that appoints another individual to make medical treatment decisions on his or her behalf, in the event that a person making the appointment loses decision-making capacity.
Durable power of attorney for health care
A medical term relating to certain personnel who either by statute or by function have a responsibility to provide care.
Duty to act
A person who is under the legal age in a given starte but, because of other curcumstances, is legally considered an adult.
Emancipated minor
A serious situation, such as injury or illness that threatens the life or welfare of a person or group of people and requires immediate intervention.
Emergency
The principle of law that permits a health care provider to treat a patient in an emergency situation when the patient is incapable of granting consent because of an altered levevl of consciousness, disability, the effects of drugs or alcohol, or the patient’s age.
Emergency doctrine
Immediate care or treatment
Emergency medical care
The philosophy of right and wrong, of moral duties, and of ideal professional behavior.
Ethics
A type of consent in which a patient gives verbal or nonverbal authorization for provision of care or transport.
Expressed consent
The confinement of a person without legal authority or the person’s consent.
False imprisonment.
The act of physically preventing an individual from initiating any physical action.
Forcible restraint.
Statutory provisions enacted by many states to protect citizens from liability for errors and omissions in giving good faith emergency medical care, unless there is wanton, gross, or willful negligence.
Good Samaritan laws
Legal doctrine that can protect an EMS provider from being sued or that may limit the amount of monetary judgement that the plaintiff may recover; generally applies only to EMS systems that are operated by municipalities or other governmental entities.
Governmental immunity
Conducts that constitutes a willful or reckless disregard for a duty or standard of care
Gross negligence
A written document that specifies medical treatment for a competent patient, should he or she become unable to make decisions. Also know as an advance directive or a living will.
Health care directive
A type of advance directive executed by a competent adult that appoints another individual to make medical treatment decisions on his or her behalf in the event that the person making the appointment loses decision-making capacity. Also known as a durable power of attorney for health care.
Health care proxy
Type of consent in which a patient who is unable to give consent is given treatmeny under the legal assumption that he or she would want treatment.
Implied consent
Refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent.
In loco parentis
Permission for treatment given by a competent patient after the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment have been explained.
Informed consent
Written questions that the defense and plaintiff send to one another
Interrogatories
The seizing, confining, abducting, or carrying away of a person by force, including transporting a competent adult for medical treatment without his or her consent.
Kidnapping
False and damaging information about a person that is communicated in writing
Libel
Relating to medical jurisprudence (law) or forensic medicine
Medicolegal
A code of conduct that can be defined by society, religion, or a person, affecting character, conduct, and conscience.
Morality
Failure to provide the same care that a person with similar training would provide.
Negligence
A theory that may be used when the conduct of the person being sued is alleged to have ocurred in clear violation of a statute.
Negligence per se
The right of a patient to make informed choices regarding his or her health care
Patient autonomy
Any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to an individual. This is interpreted rather broadly and includes any part of a patient’s medical record or payment history
Protected health information (PHI)
When a person who has a duty abuses it, and causes harm to another individual, the EMT, the agency, and/or the medical director may be sued for negligence.
Proximate causation
Damages that are sometimes awarded in a civil lawsuit when the conduct of the defendant was intentional or constituted a reckless disregard for the safety of the public.
Punitive damages
Decomposition of body tissues; a definitive sign of death.
Putrefaction
Wehn the EMT or an EMS system is held liable even when the plaintiff is unable to clearly demonstrate how an injury occured.
Res ipsa loquitor
Stiffening of the body muscles; a definitive sign of death
Rigor mortis
Most commonly defined by state law; outlines the care that the EMT is able to provide for the patient
Scope of practice
False and damaging information about a person that is communicated by the spoken word
Slander
Written, accepted levels of emergency care expected by reason of training and profession; written by legal or professional organizations so that patients are not exposed to unreasonable risk or harm
Standard of care
The time within which a case must be commenced.
Statute of limitations
A wrongful act that gives rise to a civil lawsuit
Tort
