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M6 13-005
Exam 18: Practical nurse and the Law
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Patient's Bill of Rights | contributes to more effective patient care and specifies what patients should expect from their doctors and the hospital staff who provided for their care. |
Patient's Bill of Rights: Pt have the rights to | Considerate & Respectful Care. Informed Consent. Review of their records. Refusal of Tx. Privacy. Confidentiality. Participate in research. Agency rules and regulations. Appropriate care and services. Continuity of care. Advance directives. |
Laws | The reference of a rule, principle or regulation established and made known by a government to protect or restrict the people affected |
Laws do what? | Prescribe how a person should behave in society. Sanction acceptable behavior. Prohibit unacceptable behavior. |
Two basic categories of laws | Criminal Law. Civil Law. |
Criminal Law | Issue is offensive to society in general. Conduct is detrimental to society as a whole. Involves public offenses such as: -Murder -Robbery -Assault The purpose of criminal law is to punish or deter crimes against society. |
Civil law | Conduct violates a person's rights. Conduct is detrimental to that individual. Involves an offense that is against an individual. The purpose of civil law is to make the person whole again. |
Criminal and civil laws have one of two sources | Statutory Law. Civil or Common law. |
Statutory Law | Federal government (the U.S. Constitution and the Amendments) State government (the constitution of a state: Many similarities to the U.S. Constitution) Local government. |
Civil or Common law | Based on customs and precedent; common law refers to decisions of similar cases tried before laws. |
Examples of Civil or Common Law | Civil rights violation. Contract Law (implied oral, written). Written contracts i.e. school loans. Verbal contracts i.e. “I will babysit for you on Saturday from 7 pm to 1 am”. TORT Law. |
TORT Law | Legal wrong not included under contract laws. A type of civil law that involves wrongs against a person or property. Torts occur when there is a violation of civil law. |
TORTs include | Negligence False imprisonment Confidentiality Defamation of character Consent Assault and battery Fraud |
Administrative law | A third of law that comes from agencies created by the legislature |
Federal Administrative Law | OSHA. FDA. |
State (state boards of nursing): | Regulate the registration or licensing of various professional groups |
Standards of Care | guidelines developed to identify appropriate levels of professional care. |
Failure to adhere to established standards opens the door for | Legal Liability |
Nurse Practice Act | Each state writes its own laws and regulations regarding licensure for nursing practice. Defines the scope of practice. Provides for the regulation of the profession by the State Board of Nursing. |
Scope of Practice | Defined by the Nurse Practice Act of each state. Defines nursing for the -RN -LPN/LVN -Advanced practice nurses Nurse practice acts regulate the degree of dependence or independence for the licensed nurse, i.e. scope of practice. |
Elements that must be present to be held liable: | Duty exists. Breach of Duty. Harm has occurred. The breach of duty was the proximate cause of harm. |
Duty exists | The nurse-patient relationship establishes a duty, defined by the standards of care. |
Breach of duty | Failure to perform the duty in a reasonable, prudent manner |
Harm has occurred | This does not have to be physical injury. |
The breach of duty was the proximate cause of harm | The occurrence of harm depended directly on the occurrence of the breach. |
Example of malpractice | Refusing to care for an AIDs patient. A nurse refused to care for a post abortion patient, citing a moral objection to abortion. |
Negligence | Failing to perform some act that a reasonably prudent person with the same educational level would carry out in similar circumstances or as acting in ways that the reasonably prudent person would not. |
Assault | Approaching or handling another person in such a way that it poses a threat to harm the patient, the threat may be a verbal statement or non-verbal, does not have to include physical contact. |
Battery | Touching the patient without consent, the extension of a threat through violent contact with or forcible restraint of the person. |
Defamation of character | Any false or malicious statement that may harm the character of another person. Slander. Libel. |
Slander | Verbal statements that are untrue or injurious to another's reputation, constitutes slander; the statements generally subject the person to contempt or ridicule. |
Libel | Consists of defamation that is written or printed; making false or malicious statements on the patient's hospital chart. |