Legal & Ethical Principles of EMS Flashcards
Failure to provide same care that a person with similar training would provide.
Negligence
Termination of care without the patient’s consent
Abandonment
Written documentation that specifies medical treatment, should the patient become unable to make decisions
Advanced Directive
Unlawfully placing a patient in fear of bodily harm.
Assault
Unlawfully touching a patient or providing care without consent.
Battery
Disclosure of information without proper authorization
Breach of confidentiality
Able to make rational decisions about personal well-being.
Competent
Permission to render care
Consent
Communication of false information about a person that is damaging to their reputation or standing in the community.
Defamation of character.
Written documentation by a physician giving permission NOT to attempt resuscitation in cardiac arrest
DNR (Do Not Resuscitate)
Medical personnel, who have a responsibility to provide care
Duty to act
A person who is under the legal age in a given state but, because of other circumstances, is legally considered an adult.
Emancipated minor.
A type of consent in which a patient gives verbal or nonverbal authorization for provision of care or transport.
Expressed consent.
Confinement of a person without legal authority to do so.
False imprisonment.
Laws that protect citizens from liability for errors and omissions in giving good faith emergency medical care
Good Samaritan Laws
Type of consent in which a patient who is unable to give consent is treated under the legal assumption that they would want treatment.
Implied consent
Permission for treatment given by a competent patient after risks, benefits and alternatives have been explained
Informed consent.
False and damaging information about a person that is communicated in writting
Libel.
The right of a patient to make informed choices regarding his/her healthcare
Patient autonomy
Stiffening of the body muscles, a definitive sign of death
Rigor Mortis
Decomposition of body tissues, a definitive sign of death.
Putrefaction
Defined by state law, outlines the care that the EMT is able to provide for the patient.
Scope of practice.
Written, accepted levels of emergency care expected by reason of training and profession.
Standard of care
