Chapter 5 - Legal and Ethical Responsibilities
Advance directives
A legal document designed to indicate a person's wishes regarding care in case of a terminal illness or during the dying process.
Abuse
Any care that results in physical harm or pain, or mental anguish.
Ethics
Are a set of principles relating to what is morally right or wrong.
Health care records
Are also considered privileged communications. Such records contain information about the care provided to the patient.
Expressed contracts
Are stated in distinct and clear language, either orally or in writing.
Malpractice
Can be interpreted as "bad practice" and is commonly called "professional negligence."
Implied contracts
Obligations that are understood without verbally expressed terms.
Defamation
Occurs when false statements either cause a person to be ridiculed or damage the person's reputation.
Legal disability
A condition in which a person does not have legal capacity and is therefore unable to enter into a legal agreement.
Living wills
Are documents that allow individuals to state what measures should or should not be taken to prolong life when their conditions are terminal.
Assault and battery
Assault includes a threat or attempt to injure, and battery includes the unlawful touching of another person without consent.
Negligence
Can be described as failure to give care that is normally expected of a person in a particular position, resulting in injury to another person.
Privileged communications
Compromise all information given to health care personnel by a patient; by law, this information must be kept confidential and shared only with members of the patient's health care team.
Resident's Bill of Rights
Every long-term care facility must inform residents or their guardians of these rights and a copy must be posted in each facility.
Libel
False written statement that causes a person ridicule or contempt or causes damage to the person's reputation.
Criminal law
Focuses on behavior known as crime; deals with the wrongs against a person, property, or society.
Civil law
Focuses on the legal relationships between people and the protection of a person's rights.
Designation of Health Care Surrogate also called Durable Power of Attorney (POA)
Is a document that permits an individual to appoint another person to make any decisions regarding health care if the principal should become unable to make decisions.
Informed consent
Is a permission granted voluntarily by a person who is of sound mind after the procedure and all risks involved have been explained in terms the person can understand.
Tort
Is a wrongful act that does not involve a contract.
Contract
Is an agreement between two or more parties.
Patient Self-Determination Act
Mandates that all health care facilities receiving any type of federal and comply with the requirements given to them.
Confidentiality
Means that information about the patient must remain private and can be shared only with other members of the patient's health care team.
Patients' rights
Or the factors of care that patients can expect to receive.
False imprisonment
Refers to restraining an individual or restricting an individual's freedom.
Legal
Responsibilities are those that are authorized or based on law.
Agent
Someone who has the power or authority to act as the representative of another.
Slander
Spoken comment that causes a person ridicule or contempt or damages the person's reputation.
Invasion of privacy
Unnecessarily exposing an individual or revealing personal information about an individual without that person's consent.
Patient's Bill of Rights
developed by the American Hospital Association, this list of rights established the patient as a consumer of goods who has the right to make decisions concerning his or her care, including the right to refuse treatment and etc.
