Consent - Duty of Care and Professional Negligence Flashcards
Why is consent important?
If consent is not obtained prior to treatment, a nurse may be faced with charges of assault, battery or false imprisonment
What are 3 forms of consent?
1) verbal consent
2) written consent
3) implied consent
What constitutes consent?
1) Consent must be freely and voluntarily given; not cohersed
2) The person giving consent is fully informed
3) The person must have the capacity and competence to give consent
What is the Doctrine of Necessity?
Where consent is not needed to provide treatment as it is absolutely necessary to be given and the person is not competent to give it. This provides legal protection for nurses against charges of assault, battery and false imprisonment.
What are the circumstances where doctrine of necessity occurs, and consent is not needed by the patient?
1) it is a time critical situation
2) it is an emergency to save a life or prevent further injury
3) It is in the persons best interests
4) the patient or guardian is unable to give consent as they are unconscious
What is assault and what are the 2 types of assault?
Assault is the threat of touch without permission from the patient. There are 2 types:
- Criminal assault: must have elements of crime and occurs when there is intent to cause harm, application of force
- Civil assault: involves the person feeling the threat of harm even if contact hasn’t been made
What is battery?
Battery is the actual contact made. One step further than assault (the threat of touch)
What is false imprisonment?
Any action that wrongfully or intentionally restricts a persons freedom of movement against their will.
What age can a child give consent?
14 years and above provided they adequately understand and appreciate the consequence and nature of the operation or treatment.
What is professional negligence?
Where a nurse fails to provide a reasonable standard of care, and as a result causes harm to the patient. Negligence may be civil or criminal:
Civil: where the nurse is sued for compensation for harming the patient
Criminal: where a practitioner acts with extreme disregard of a patients welfare and includes criminal charges such as manslaughter
What is the standard of care?
Care that could be expected of any other nurse that is in a similar role an has a similar level of experience
What are the 4 conditions of negligence?
1) Duty of care: the nurse who acted negligently had a duty of care to the patient
2) Breach of duty of care: when a nurse fails to meet a standard that could reasonably be expected
3) Harm incurred: as a result of failing to meet the standards
4) Harm was forseeable: the nurse is aware of the harm that could occur as a result of the breach of duty of care
How are professional standards and professional negligence related?
If a nurse is implicated for the case of professional negligence, the court will examine if the nurse met the professional standards of their practice
