Medicolegal Aspects of Surgical Technology Flashcards
A health professional’s failure to provide care to a patient, especially when there is an implied contract to do so. Examples include leaving the operating room during a surgical case without transferring care to another person, and leaving a patient on a stretcher alone in the hallway.
Abandonment
Accepting responsibility for one’s actions. In a professional context, this means that roles and actions accepted by an individual within the context of their occupation require the person to accept responsibility for the consequences of carrying them out.
Accountability
Laws created by an agency or a department of the U.S. government.
Administrative laws
A document in which a person gives instructions about his or her medical care in the event that the individual cannot speak for his/herself. Examples are a living will and a medical power of attorney.
Advance directive
Money awarded in a civil lawsuit to compensate the injured party.
Damages
A derogatory statement concerning another person’s skill, character, or reputation.
Defamation
The assignment of one’s duties to another person. In medicine, the person who delegates a duty retains accountability for the action of the person to whom it is delegated.
Delegation
The testimony of a witness given under oath and transcribed by a court reporter during the retrial phase of a lawsuit.
Deposition
A situation or personal conflict that arises from a need to make a decision when none of the choices are acceptable.
Dilemma
Situations in which ethical choices involve conflicting values.
Ethical dilemmas
Core values that are based on knowledge of right and wrong- not based on culture, religion, or time. They are universal.
Ethics
Professional practices and their standards based on established scientific research rather than opinion or tradition.
Evidence-based practice
A written description of any event that caused harm or presented the risk of harm to a patient or staff in the course of normal health care.
Informed consent
Standards of conduct that apply to all people in a given society.
Laws
Legally responsible and accountable.
Liable
A legal document stating the patient’s wishes regarding care in the event the patient is unable to speak for himself or herself.
Living will
Negligence committed by a professional.
Malpractice
Unintentional acts of harm. Two ways it can occur: failure to do something that a reasonable person would do or the act of doing something a reasonable and prudent person wouldn’t do.
Negligence
The crime of intentionally lying or falsifying information during court testimony after a person has sworn to tell the truth.
Perjury
Actions intended to punish a person who has violated the law.
Punitive
An item that is inadvertently left inside the patient during surgery.
Retained foreign object
A federal regulation that requires the reporting of any incident causing death or injury that is suspected to be the result of a medical device.
Safe medical device act
An unexpected incident resulting in serious physical injury, psychological harm, or death. The near miss of injury or harm is also considered this.
Sentinel event
Sexual coercion, sexual innuendoes, or unwanted sexual comments, gestures, or touch.
Sexual harassment
Spoken defamation
Slander
A set of rules or guidelines an organization writes for its members. The rules pertain to how people behave and are based on the principles that the organization values, such as professionalism, and personal integrity.
Standards of conduct
Laws passed by state legislative bodies.
Statutes
A court order requiring its recipient to appear and testify at a trial or deposition. This can also include medical records.
Subpoena
A procedure in which the surgical team affirms the identity of the patient, correct procedure and location (side), verification of informed consent, and other documents necessary to proceed with the surgery- formally called the universal protocol. The procedure is mandated by the joint commission.
TIMEOUT
Legal wrongdoing that results in injury to a person or property
Tort
In most societies is intended to protect individuals from harm and promote a peaceful society.
Law
Are values that are highly regarded by individuals and society.
Ethics
Type of laws made at the national level.
Federal laws
Regulates the use of chemicals such as those used in disinfection, sterilization, and environmental cleaning.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
“The thing speaks for itself”. Example: leaving an instrument or sponge in the patient, obvious source of harm and needs no other evidence.
Res ipsa loquitur
A civil wrong committed against a person or property.
Tort
Any individual on the surgical team can be held liable.
Personal liability
The health facility itself can be held liable.
Corporate liability
Who are responsible for the surgical counts (sometimes called baseline counts) which must be performed in an exact way at prescribed times during surgery.
Scrub and circulator
Is civil wrongdoing that is deliberate rather than the result of negligence. Because these are civil rather than criminal acts, money is usually awarded to the person who was injured.
Intentional tort
Verbal defamation
Slander
Written defamation
Libel
Is the threat or attempt to harm another person, regardless of whether it is carried out.
Civil assault
Involves physical contact with intent to injure and applies even if no injury occurred.
Battery
Protects patients’ medical records and other health information through its privacy rule. Goal is to ensure individual’s health information (called protected health information) remains confidential.
HIPAA
Is a personal conflict that arises from the need to make a decision based on choices that are not completely acceptable.
Ethical dilemma
The AST has adopted a Latin phrase to describe its ethos - The Patient First
Aeger primo
Issues and enforces regulations that protect employees and patients against risks in the work environment
OSHA
Regulates the use of chemicals such that those used in disinfection, sterilization, and environmental cleaning
EPA
Establishes laws that govern the safety of medicines and protect the public from medical devices that might be defective, unsafe, or hazardous.
FDA
Describes the operating room protocols for specific practices such as disinfection and sterilization methods, room turnover procedures, and chemical and laser safety precautions
Procedure Manual
Public declarations of the organization’s collective opinion on important topics rather than evidence-based standards of practice. May not be used to overturn law, practice acts, or hospital policy
Position statements
An organization’s rules or guidelines for the behavior of its members. Purpose is to ensure that the actions of individuals in that profession or organization are consistent with its core values
Code of conduct
Verification that an individual has completed the requirements needed to achieve a designated standard of knowledge or performance.
Certification
A legal requirement of the state and is not voluntary. Allows states to monitor and regulate professionals to protect the public
Licensure
Is an administrative process of the state government in which the state maintains process of the state government in which the state maintains an official record of the health professional’s vital statistics, address, and place of employment for public protection
Registration
“Let the master respond” Historically, the surgeon or health care facility was held responsible for the acts of others on the surgical team through a doctrine called “borrowed servant”
Respondeat Superior
“First do not harm” Used to emphasize that professionals have a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure that their care does not cause harm or injury
Primun non nocere
Intentional conduct or gross negligence which not usually awarded in medical malpractice
Punitive damages
Refers to a policy in which institutions encourage their employees to report acts of misconduct or negligence of others.
Whistle blowing
Method of managing a group of patients all in one place against their will
False imprisonment
Elements of a surgical informed consent
Name and type of surgery, risks benefits and possible outcomes of surgery, alternatives to the procedure, assessment of the patient’s understanding of the information, patient’s acceptance of the procedure
Specific documentation about the surgical procedure and includes patient assessment; technical information about the equipment and devices, drains, and implants used during the procedure and record of the TIMEOUT
Intraoperative record
Includes reporting of actual and potential risks and creating policies and protocols to prevent or mitigate risk.
Risk management
Specifies that cardiopulmonary resuscitation must not be initiated in the event of cardiac or pulmonary arrest.
DNR (do not resuscitate) or DNAR do not attempt resuscitation order
A proxy with regard to medical treatment that can speak on behalf of the patient regarding his or her medical treatment.
Medical power of attorney
Implies empathy and commitment to healing
Act with beneficence
All patients have the right to equal treatment regardless of age, physical attributes, mental state, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status
Act with Justice
Includes accountability, responsibility, confidentiality, honesty and willingness to admit mistakes, commitment to cost containment in the health facility
Surgical conscience
Victim, person filling law suit
Who the complaint is made to
Plaintiff
Defendant
The correct care of surgical specimens (tissue or other) includes the following :
a) Identification of the tissue during surgery
b) Correct labeling of the specimen
c) Correct method of containment
d) Delivery of the specimen to the pathology department
A,B,C,D
An incident report should include the following information (select all that are correct):
a) The names of people who saw the incident
b) The name of the patient’s referring doctor
c) Current medications prescribed to the patient
d) Your opinion of what caused the incident
e) What you did when the incident occurred
f) Your evaluation of the patient’s injuries
g) Your opinion of how the incident should have been handled
A,B,E,F
