Professional Liability

Question 1

law of agency

Answer 1

(simple as agency)

common law situation in business where the principal (employer) authorizes an agent (employee) to deal with a third person (customer, supplier, or other third party) on the principal’s behalf

Question 2

liable

Answer 2

legally responsible for their actions, both on and off the job

Question 3

respondeat superior

Answer 3

“let the master answer”

a doctrine under which an employed is legally liable for the acts of his or her employees, if such acts were performed within the scope of the employees duties

Question 4

standard of care

Answer 4

the level of performance expected of a health care practitioner in carrying out his or her professional duties

Question 5

duty of care

Answer 5

obligation of health care workers to patients and, in some cases, nonpatients

Question 6

reasonable person standard

Answer 6

standard of behavior that judges a persons actions in a situation according to what a reasonable person would or would not do under similar circumstances

Question 7

malfeasance

Answer 7

performance of a totally wrongful and unlawful act

Question 8

misfeasance

Answer 8

performance of a lawful act in an illegal or improper manner

Question 9

nonfeasance

Answer 9

failure to act when one should

Question 10

four Ds of negligence

Answer 10

Duty, Dereliction, Damage, Direct Cause

Question 11

Duty

Answer 11

person charged with negligence owed a duty of care to the accuser

Question 12

Dereliction

Answer 12

health care provider breached the duty of care to the patient

Question 13

Damage

Answer 13

health care provider’s dereliction of duty caused injury to the patient

Question 14

Direct Cause

Answer 14

breach of the duty of care to the patient was a direct cause of the patient’s injury

Question 15

Res ipsa loquitur

Answer 15

“the thing speaks for itself”

the doctrine of common knowledge, mistake is so obvious - leaving a sponge or surgical instrument inside a patient after surgery

Question 16

damages

Answer 16

monetary compensation

Question 17

general compensatory

Answer 17

compensate for injuries or losses due to violation of patients rights

Question 18

special compensatory

Answer 18

compensate for losses not directly caused by the wrong

Question 19

consequential

Answer 19

compensate for losses caused indirectly by a product defect

Question 20

punitive

Answer 20

punish the offender

Question 21

nominal

Answer 21

recognize that rights of the patient were violated, though no actual loss was proved

Question 22

wrongful death statutes

Answer 22

allows a patients beneficiaries to collect from a health care practitioner for loss to the patients estate of future earnings when a patients death is judged to have been due to negligence of health care practitioners

Question 23

pretrial screenings

Answer 23

assess the relative strengths of each partys case and determine whether the situation merits going to trial

Question 24

phases of a lawsuit

Answer 24

• patient feels he or she has been injured
• patient seeks the advice of an attorney
  -if attorney believes the case has merit

Question 25

summons

Answer 25

issued by the clerk of the court and is delivered with a copy of the complaint to the defendant

Question 26

subpoena

Answer 26

legal document requiring the recipient to appear as a witness in court or to give a deposition

Question 27

deposition

Answer 27

sworn testimony given and recorded outside the courtroom during the pretrial phase of a case

Question 28

interrogatory

Answer 28

written set of questions requiring written answers from a plaintiff or defendant under oath

Question 29

subpoena duces tecum

Answer 29

legal document requiring the recipient to bring certain written records to court to be used as evidence in a lawsuit

Question 30

testimony

Answer 30

statements sworn to under oath by witness testifying in court and giving depositions

Question 31

alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Answer 31

techniques for resolving civil disputes without going to court

Question 32

consent

Answer 32

patient gives permission (orally or written)

Question 33

doctrine of informed consent

Answer 33

legal basis for informed consent, usually outlined in a state’s medical practice acts

Question 34

Good Samaritan Acts

Answer 34

state laws protecting physicians and sometimes other health care practitioners and laypersons from charges of negligence or abandonment if they stop to help the victim of an accident or other emergency