Question | Answer |
Privilege | Permission to do what is usually not permitted in other circumstances |
Ethical Codes | actions and beliefs approved of by a particular group of people |
Ethical Principles | rules of right and wrong from an ethical point of views |
Ethics Committee | a committee formed to consider ethical problems |
Advanced Directive | or living will is consent that has been constructed before the need for it arises |
Appeal | challenge to a court decision |
Civil rights, Civil Law | personal or individual conditions life, liberty privacy guaranteed by the constitution, Bill of Rights and federal or regulatory law |
competent | mentally and emotionally able to understand and act (make choices) |
controlled substance | specific drugs with a potential for abuse, such as narcotics, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives |
Crime | Violation of Public law |
Defendant | person accused of violation of public law (crime), or civil law (tort) |
Damages | The monetary award to an injured plaintiff when the defendant is found responsible for the injury |
Emancipated Minor | Person under 18 who is legally considered an adult, usually due to marriage, parenthood or enlistment in armed services |
felony | a serious crime that may result in a prison term of more than 1 year |
Health Care Agent | Person designated by the patient to make health care decisions when the patient is incapacitated. (surrogate decision maker) |
Liability | Responsibility to pay or compensate for loss or injury that results from one's negligence |
Litigation | Lawsuit legal process to prove facts of a dispute |
Malpractice | Is negligence by a professional person |
Malpractice insurance | Policy that protects nurse from expense of defending self from lawsuit, will pay that amount awarded up to policy limits if nurse found guilty of malpractice |
Medical Power of attorney | legal assignment of ability to make health care decisions for another person. |
Misdemeanor | Less serious crime than felony, may result in fines, imprisonment of 1 year or less or both |
Negligence | Failure to do what a reasonable Person would do, or doing what a reasonable person would not do results in harm or injury to another person |
Plaintiff | Person who believes he or she has been injured by the actions of another, and seeks to prove it in a court of law |
Power of Attorney | legal action to allow a person to conduct business matters for another |
Precedent | A judicial decision that is used as a guide to interpreting the law and deciding cases afterward |
Privileged relationship | One that requires confidentiality, trust that information gained in the relationship will not be made public |
Statue | Laws |
Tort | Violation of a civil law, a wrong against an individual |
Nurse Practice Act | Defines the scope of nursing practice and provides for regulation of the profession by a state board of nursing |
Reciprocity | recognition of one state's nursing license by another state |
Accountability | is taking responsibility for ones actions |
delegation | is the assignment of duties to another person |
OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Act passed in 1970 to improve the work environment in areas that affect workers' health and safety |
Discrimination | making a decision or treating a person based on a class or group to which he belongs, such as race, religion or sex rather than on his individual qualities |
Sexual harassment | unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature. |
SBAR | Situation, background, Assessment, recommendation |
Sentinel event | an unexpected patient care event that results in death or serious injury to the patient |
Confidential | kept private |
consent | permission given by the patient or his legal representative |
DNR | Do not Resuscitate |
Patient Advocate | One who speaks for and protects the rights of the patient |
Prudent | Sensible and careful |
Elements of Malpractice (4) (Do be careful inside) | Duty, Breach of Duty, Causation, injury or damages |
Assault | is the threat to harm another, or even to threaten to touch another without that persons permission |
Battery | is the actual physical contact that has been refused or that is carried out against the persons will |
Defamation | is when one person makes remarks about another person that are untrue, and the remarks damage the other person reputation |
Slander | oral defamation |
Libel | written defamation |
invasion of privacy | occurs when there has been a violation of the confidential and privileged nature of a professional relationship |
false imprisonment | preventing a person from leaving or restricting his movements in a facility |
Guidelines to reduce legal risk (5) (my dog eats chicken tenders) | Maintain competence,
Document fully,
Establish rapport,
Communicate effectively,
take care of yourself |
Ethics | or ethical principles are rules of conduct that have been agreed to by a particular group |
Euthanasia | or mercy killing that act of ending another persons life, with or without the persons consent to end actual or potential suffering |
whistle-blowing | reporting illegal or unethical actions |
Incident report | is often used to document what happened, the facts about an incident, and who was involved or witnessed it |
Judicial law | results from court decisions (establishing a precedent) |
Administrative law | dictated by agencies created by the legislature (includes the US constitution and bill or rights |
Criminal and civil Law | involve a plaintiff and defendant, in criminal law the plaintiff is the state, in civil law the plaintiff is a person generally seeking damages |