HCM Final Exam
Dr. Sheehan is part owner of a small "reference lab" business. When his patient need blood work done, he send them to that lab because it is in the same building it is convenient for the patient, and it returns the results quickly. Has Dr. Sheehan violated a law?
yes
As a general rule, patients may not refuse life-saving treatment.
false
It is probably okay for a patient transportation company to pay a hospital employee a fee each time the employee selects the company to transport a patient.
false
The Stark self-referral statute applies to referrals of patients by a hospital to a home health agency that the hospital owns.
false
The Tennessee Supreme Court adopted the "mature minor exception" to the parental consent requirement for a patient who was 16 years old.
false
The terms "directive to physicians" and "healthcare power of attorney" are two names for the same document.
false
Under the federal statute related to false claims, the penalty is $25,000 per false claim and five times the amount of the overpayment.
false
Under the federal False Claims Act, a physician can be found guilty of submitting a false claim even if he or she did not intend to defraud the government.
true
A psychiatric patient who has been committed is presumed incompetent to give informed consent to medical treatment, including administration of medications for illness.
False
As a matter of common law, a physician has no duty to respond to a stranger's call for medical assistance.
False
Because some abortions are legal and the government cannot discriminate against the poor, Medicaid recipients are entitled to have abortions paid for by federal funds.
False
Hospitals are required to have an emergency department.
False
To be a violation of the federal emergency medical treatment law, a hospital's refusal to see patient must have been motivated by the patient's inability to pay.
False
EMTALA applies to all of the following areas/situations except when a patient:
All of these are correct.
Payment of something of value with the intent of inducing referrals is a violation of which of the following statutes?
Anti-kickback statute
_________ decision making can be affected by one's disabilities, mental status, maturity, or incapacity to make decisions.
Autonomous
Proof of a patient's consent is a defense against what type of lawsuit?
Battery
Which of the following would not be considered a violation of the False Claims Act?
Billing one change for a battery of test performed as a single lab procedure.
__________ addresses difficult issues such as the nature of life, the nature of death, what sort of life is worth living, what constitutes murder, how we should treat people who are especially vulnerable, and the responsibilities that we have to other human beings.
Bioethics
From a legal risk standpoint, which of the following is the best health care professional to staff the ED of a large hospital?
Board certified ED physician
Which of the following was not a "right to die" case?
Buck v Bell
A healthcare organization's process for promoting honesty, ethical, and responsible conduct and preventing violations of law is usually referred to as what?
Corporate compliance program
Referrals for certain healthcare services are prohibited by the Stark law; what are those services called?
Designated health services
A hospital has two facilities in the same town, but they are six miles apart. Each has an emergency department. A patient is seen in the "North Campus" emergency department. He has a condition requiring immediate treatment by a specialist located at the "South Campus." The hospital has two options: require the physician to travel to North Campus, or transfer the patient to South Campus. Which of the following is the best answer to the hospital's dilemma?
Determine what is in the patient's best interests and the best interests of the other patients they physician is seeing at the time.
_________ is a principle requiring that all persons be treated equally and fairly.
Distributive justice
In civil proceedings for long-term commitment of psychiatric patients, which of the following must be provided to the patient?
Due process
The federal law that requires evaluation of persons who come to a hospital emergency room with an emergency condition is called what?
EMTALA
The Uniform Definition of Death Act defines death as which of the following:
Either of these is correct.
Involuntary, court-ordered sterilization of the mentally handicapped was once approved by the US Supreme Court (in Buck v. Bell). What is the name of the scientific area of study on which this now-discredited concept was based on?
Eugenics
A woman is seriously injured at midnight in an automobile accident. Her life appears to be in jeopardy. Paramedics take her to the nearest hospital, a small facility in a rural area that does not have a true emergency department. No physician is on duty. Which of the following is the best summary of what the hospital's staff should do?
Examine the patient and stabilize her condition the best they can.
Controversies about decisions to withhold certain life-prolonging procedures (e.g., artificial feeding) from incompetent, terminally ill patient occasionally make headlines. Which of these is the best general summary of most courts' decisions in such cases?
Foregoing such procedures is legally justifiable when there would be no apparent therapeutic benefit and the patient would not have wanted their condition prolonged.
Which of the following is not an element of an effective corporate compliance program?
Hospital security department
What is the major legal and philosophical problem with "wrongful life" cases?
How to measure damages
The ___________ denies federal funding of abortions except for instances in which the life of the mother is at risk or in cases of rape or incest.
Hyde Amendment
What type of consent is most commonly an issue in a medical malpractice case?
Informed consent
What is the most significant legal problem with relying on oral consent?
It is hard to prove.
Which of the following statements best summarizes the liability of managed care organizations (e.g., HMOs, PPOs) for admission and discharge decisions that are motivated by cost considerations?
It is the physician's responsibility to provide the care needed, but in some states the managed care organization can be held liable if its decisions about insurance coverage have adverse effects.
An individual's view of what is right and wrong based on his or her experience is _________.
Microethics
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study involved a breach primarily of which of the following?
Nonmaleficence
Which federal agency usually investigates hospital False Claims Act cases?
Office of Inspector General
Which of the following statements is the best summary of a hospital's duty of care in emergency care?
Once care has begun, there is a duty to provide reasonable treatment under the circumstances in the patient's best interest.
Which of the following restrictions on abortion have not been held constitutional?
Ordinance that required that all abortions after the first trimester take place in a hospital.
Which of the following is intended to convert patients' preferences into enforceable physicians' orders?
POLST/MOST
Safe harbors of the Antikickback Statute include all of the following except:
Payments for referral services tied to payment for those referrals
Who has the authority to admit patients to a hospital?
Physicians
The trimester framework of Roe v. Wade was rejected by _________.
Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pennsylvania v. Casey
__________ are standards or codes of conduct established by the membership of a specific profession.
Professional ethics
Which of the following is the landmark US Supreme Court decision on abortion?
Roe v. Wade
Which of the following statutes is not related to healthcare fraud?
Sherman Act
A man is seen in the emergency department and is found to have a condition that the hospital is not equipped to treat. Which of the following statements is the best summary of the hospital's responsibility to the patient?
Stabilize the condition and transfer him to a hospital that is equipped to treat him properly.
The practice of one woman carrying the fetus for another woman who is unable to do so is called what?
Surrogacy
Which of the following principles has been used to determine custody of a child born of a surrogate mother who reneged on her agreement to transfer custody of the child?
The best interest of the child
Which of the following factors is not relevant to a decision about whether to provide nonemergency care to a competent 17-year-old?
The individual is a high school graduate.
The state's power to commit mentally ill persons indefinitely against their will is an example of what legal concept?
The parens patriae doctrine
Factors that courts consider when deciding whether parents may refuse life-saving treatment for their child include all of the following except:
The parents' religious or spiritual beliefs.
Which of the following statements best describes the system for reimbursing the cost of emergency medical care given to indigent persons?
The standards for payment differ significantly from state to state.
Under the Hill-Burton Act, hospitals that received federal funding were required to provide certain amounts of free care to indigent persons (i.e., persons who are unable to pay). What were these requirements called?
The uncompensated care and community service obligations
What is a hospital's responsibility to ensure that patients give valid consent to surgery when the physician is an independent member of the medical staff (i.e., not a hospital employee)?
To have procedures that will ensure surgery does not begin unless consent is documented in the medical record.
Which of the following is the best summary of the purpose of a Good Samaritan statute?
To protect people who render aid at the scene of an accident from liability
"Emergency medical condition" means the following, except:
Transfer of pregnant patient if there is time for a safe transfer to another hospital before delivery
A general hospital may legally establish policies refusing treatment to patients suffering from a condition the hospital is not equipped to treat.
True
A patient who is in a hospital-owned ambulance is considered to have "come to the hospital" for purposes of the federal law on emergency medical care.
True
An undiagnosed behavioral health emergency that is untreated is a matter for state medical malpractice law, not EMTALA.
True
Consent forms tailored to specific procedures should be used when the proposed treatment is something more than routine care.
True
Contraception and voluntary sterilization present few, if any, significant legal issues today.
True
If a physician explains to the patient the purpose of the proposed treatment but does not explain the alternative treatments (if any), then the consent is probably not going to be held as valid.
True
If parents refuse life-saving treatment for their ill newborn, then a hospital should obtain a court order allowing treatment of the infant if time permits.
True
In most cases, individuals do not have a legal right to be admitted to a hospital.
True
Personnel involved in the utilization review/case management process make recommendations about appropriate types of care for patients being discharged from the hospital.
True
Under federal law, a woman who is in labor is considered to have an emergency condition.
True
Most states now apply which standard to question about what risks should be disclosed to the patient for informed consent?
What reasonable patients would want to know
"Implied consent" is most applicable in which of the following situations?
When an emergency exists and the patient is unconscious.
When can a patient who appears at a hospital and ask for emergency treatment be transferred to another facility?
When it is in the patient's best interest and certain standards of care have been met
In which of the following circumstances does discharge of a patient present the most significant legal issues?
When the patient threatens harm to self or others
When the Supreme Court considers the validity of a state's law restricting abortion, which of the following is the primary criterion it uses?
Whether the restriction is an undue burden on a woman's decision
When a woman's sterilization procedure fails and she later becomes pregnant, she may have a valid claim for which of the following?
Wrongful birth
A physician's negligence leads to the birth of a handicapped child. The parents would have terminated the pregnancy if not for the negligence. If they sue the physician on behalf of their child, the case would be an example of what kind of lawsuit?
Wrongful life
An ____________ is signed by a competent adult and instructs a physician to withhold or withdraw certain life-sustaining procedures in the event of a terminal illness.
advance directive
Some state and federal statutes contain a ____________ that permits hospitals and physicians to refuse to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds.
conscience clause
Duty-based ethics are known as _________________.
deontological ethics
Jim Black has filed a qui tam lawsuit against a medical device maker. That means Mr. Black:
is trying to enforce the federal False Claims Act
In what year did the US Supreme Court approve a right to assisted suicide under the U.S. Constitution?
none of these are correct
Medical paternalism involves _______________.
physicians making decisions they deem best for a patient capable of making their own decisions
Whether a hospital may require or prevent its physicians to perform abortions depends on whether a court finds _______.
state-action
The ________________ means the guardian must determine what the patient herself would decide under the circumstances.
substituted judgment doctrine
A "whistle-blower" lawsuit is also known as a qui tam lawsuit.
true
A court may override an individual's refusal of life-saving treatment based on certain state interests.
true
A patient in a persistent vegetative state will likely not recover.
true
Competent parents of a disabled newborn are authorized to withhold treatment so long as the action does not constitute neglect of the child.
true
Federal law provides that a person who files a whistle-blower lawsuit is protected against discrimination and retaliation.
true
Most aid-in-dying laws prevent a physician or other person from administering the lethal medication to the patient requesting the same.
true
