Law Flashcards
• Legal Issues for the EMT
Every person is entitled to certain legal rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal, state, and municipal law. EMTs, for instance, have a right to protection from abusive patients and dangerous situations.
Patients also enjoy certain legal rights. If these rights are violated, EM’Ts may be held legally liable. Two main types of law are civil and criminal. “Criminal law” deals with wrongs against society, and includes assault, battery, and false imprisonment. “Civil law” deals with disagreements between, or wrongs against, individuals or organizations.
Criminal Law
“Assault” is the threat of physical injury. For instance, if the patient tells the EMT that “if you hurt me when you start that IV, I am going to make you bleed too,” this could be considered assault. Like-wise, assault occurs if the EM’T threatens the patient or a family member with physical injury.
“Battery” is the unlawful touching of a person by another person. An EMT could be charged with battery if the patient refuses an IV line and the EMT starts one anyway. Battery also occurs when a patient strikes an EMT.
“False imprisonment” occurs when the patient is illegally detained against his or her will. This can occur if an EMT transports a patient against his or her will. If a patient refuses to go to a hospital, the EMT should document the circumstances and ask the patient to sign a refusal form.
Civil Law
The EMT should understand and follow any national standards relevant to EMS practice.
Whereas these standards do not carry the weight of law, the EMT must follow national standards or risk being found guilty of civil liability. A tort is a wrongful act that gives rise to a civil suit. Even if no law is broken, the EM’T may be found negligent if he or she does not meet standards that another reasonable person in a similar position would follow. A “plaintiff” is the person who files a civil suit against a person who is accused of wrongdoing, also called a “defendant”.
“Negligence” is a deviation from the accepted standard of care that results in further injury to the patient. The following four components are necessary to prove negligence:
• “ Duty to act” -To be considered negligent, an EMT
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provided by another EMT of the same level.
• “Breach of duty” -Breach of duty means that the EMT did not meet his or her obligation to provide the expected standard of care. Examples of breach of inappropriate care, or operating outside of the . EMITS sCopear geasticeur when a patient has experienced injury, death, or monetary loss.
• “Damages” may be tangible, such as additional medical expenses or loss of income, or intan-gible, such as loss of life or limb.
• “Proximate cause”–Not only does the plaintiff in a civil suit have to show a duty to act, breach of duty, and damages, he or she also has to show that any damages he or she sustained were actually caused by the defendant’s breach of duty.
Negligence is commonly divided into three categories: malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfea
sance.
• Malfeasance occurs when the EMT performs an act that he or she was never authorized to do, such as a medical intervention that is outside the scope of practice.
• Misfeasance occurs when the EMT performs an act that he or she is legally permitted to do but does so in an improper manner. For exam-ple, the EMT administers a medication that is Clearly within the scope of practice but acci dently calculates an incorrect dose.
• Nonfeasance occurs when the EMT fails to perform an act that he or she is required of expected to perform. Failure to perform CPR when a patient goes into cardiac arrest would be an example of nonfeasance.
“Abandonment” is the termination of patient care without ensuring that care will be continued at the same or higher level. When you are administering IV therapy, you are obliged to ensure that someone with at least the same level of your training and certification will continue patient care. Remember that once patient contact has been established, you are legally bound to remain with the patient until one of the following criteria is met:
• You hand over care to someone with equal or higher certification.
• The patient terminates care after meeting the required criteria for competency.
Patient abandonment does not apply if your safety is at risk. In that case, your first responsibility is to yourself and other EMS personnel.
