Term | Definition |
Assault | A threat or attempt to inflict offensive physical contact poor bodily harm on a person that puts a person in immediate danger of or in apprehension of such harm out contact. |
Battery | Bodily harm our unlawful touching of another; treating a patient without consent. |
Civil lawsuit | A noncriminal lawsuit for damages, usually based on tort, contract, labor, our privacy. |
Common law | Law off precedents built on a case-by-case basis and established by citing interpretation of existing laws by judges on previous suits. "Judge made law". |
Criminal law | State our federal government law coveting violations of written criminal code or statute. |
Defendant | Person or entity sued. |
Executive branch | President of the United States or Governor. |
Felony | Serious crime punishableby relatively large fines and/or imprisonment for more than one year and in some cases, death. |
Judicial branch | Federal constitutional court system |
Law | The foundation of statutes, rules, and regulations that govern people, relationships, behaviors, and interactions with the state, society, and federal government. |
Legislative branch | Senate and the House |
Malpractice | The failure of a professional to meet the standard of conduct that a reasonable and prudent member of the profession would exercise in a similar circumstance; out results in harm. |
Medical ethics | Principles based on the medical profession that determine moral behavior. |
Medical law | Laws that are prescribed specifically pertaining to medical field. |
Misdemeanor | Lesser crime punishable by usually modest fines or penalties established by the state or federal government and/or imprisonment of less than one year. |
Negligence | The failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would under similar circumstances; an act of omission or failure to do what a person of ordinary prudence would have done under similar circumstances. |
Plaintiff | A person or entity bringing a suit our claim. |
Standard of care | The average knowledge and expertise that one can expect from a health-care professional on the same area or field and with the same base of training. |
Statute of limitations | Defense against tort action; requires that a claim be filed within a specific amount of time of discovering that a wrong had been committed. |
Tort | A wrongful act, not including a breach of contract our trust, that results in injury to another person, property, reputation, or the like, and for which the injured party is entitled to compensation . |