Chapter 2-Legal And Ethical Principles Of Emergency Care

Question 1

Good Samaritan Laws

Answer 1

Minimize exposure to liability and encourage passerby to provide emergency care to those in need

Question 2

Duty

Answer 2

The legal obligation to provide care

Question 3

Standard of care

Answer 3

The care that should be provided for any level of trained based on local laws, administrative orders, and guidelines and protocols established by the local EMS system

Question 4

Scope of Practice

Answer 4

What is legally permitted to be done by some or all individuals trained or licensed at a particular level, such as and emergency medical responder, emergency medical technician, or paramedic. Does not define what must be done for a given patient or in a particular situation.

Question 5

Ethics

Answer 5

The study of the principles that define behavior as right, good, and proper

Question 6

Consent

Answer 6

The legal term that means to give formal permission for something to happen

Question 7

Capacity

Answer 7

Refers to a patients legal rights and ability to make decisions concerning his or her medical care

Question 8

Competence

Answer 8

Refers to the patients mental ability to comprehend the situation and make rational decisions regarding his or her medical care

Question 9

Expressed consent

Answer 9

A competent adults decisions to accept emergency care

Question 10

Informed consent

Answer 10

Consent granted by a patient after he has been appropriately informed of the care being suggested and associated consequences

Question 11

Unresponsive

Answer 11

Having no reaction to verbal or painful stimuli also referred to as unconscious

Question 12

Implied consent

Answer 12

A legal form of consent that assumes that a patient who lacks the capacity or competency to provide his own consent would consent to receiving emergency care if he were able. This form of consent may apply in situations where the patient is a minor, unresponsive, or lacks capacity

Question 13

Emancipated minor

Answer 13

A minor who’s parents completely surrendered the right to care, custody and earnings and no longer are under any duty to support the minor

Legally are allowed to make their own decisions regarding medical care

Question 14

Refusal of care

Answer 14

Alert and competent adults have the right to refuse care

When care is refused

Stay calm and professional- do best to explain situation to patient
Inform of potential dangers or refusal
Do your best to identify his reasons for refusal
Use the aid of someone the Patient trusts to convince to accept care
Carefully document the refusal of care

Question 15

Advance directive

Answer 15

A document that allows a patient to define in advance what his wishes are should he become incapacitated due to a medical illness or severe injury

Advance directives commonly address such issues as:
Designation of an agent or health care representative (spouse, family member or friend) to make decisions on the patients behalf
DNR order- do not resuscitate
Choice to prolong or not prolong life
Pain relief
Donation of organs

Question 16

Do not resuscitate (DNR) order

Answer 16

Form of a written document, usually signed by the patient and his or her physician

Question 17

Negligence

Answer 17

A failure to provide the expected standard of care.
For a lawsuit alleging negligence to be successful- needs to have four elements:
Duty to act
Breach of duty
Damages
Causation

Question 18

Good Samaritan laws

Answer 18

State laws designed to protect certain care providers if they deliver the standard of care in good faith, to the level of their trading, and to the best of their abilities

Question 19

Abandonment

Answer 19

To leave a sick or injured patient before equal or more highly trained personnel can assume responsibility for care

Question 20

Confidentiality

Answer 20

Refers to the treatment of information that an individual has disclosed in a relationship of trust and with the expectation that it will not be divulged to others

Question 21

Health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)

Answer 21

A law that dictates the extent to which protected health information can be shared

Question 22

Organ donor

Answer 22

Patient who has completed a legal document that allows for donation of organs and tissues in the even of his or her death. Emergency care of a person who is an organ donor must not differ in anyway from the care of a patient who is not a donor

Question 23

Medical identification devices

Answer 23

A card, necklace or wrist or ankle bracelet- meant to alert EMS personnel that the person has a particular medical condition, such as a heart problem, allergies, diabetes, or epilepsy.

Question 24

Mandated reports

Answer 24

Any person required by law to report ( or cause a report to be made) whenever financial, physical, sexual, or other types of abuse or neglect have been observed or are suspected

Question 25

Crime scene

Answer 25

The location where a crime has been committed or any place where evidence relating to a crime may be found