Term
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Definition
-Any civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which a remedy may be obtained, usually in the form of damages
-Breach of duty that the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another |
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Term
| Hospital Acquired Conditions |
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Definition
-24% of total HPL costs associated with 5 specific HACs (Never Events)
1. Hospital Acquired infxns
2. Hospital acquired injuries
3. Med errors
4. Objects left in Sx
5. Pressure ulcers |
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Term
| What is driving up frequency of Med Mal? |
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Definition
1. Recession
2. Rule changes in CMS
3. Publicity surrounding "Never Events"
4. Changes in media coerage
5. Public attention on "wast, inefficiency and defensive med
6. Public less sympathetic |
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Term
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Definition
-Any drug, med, chemical or poison bearing on the label the words, "Caution, Fed Law prohibits dispensing without a Rx" or similar words
-Listed in Schedules I - IV of the Alabama Controlled Substance Act |
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Term
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Definition
-Does not require on-site supervision
-Includes professional oversight relationship |
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Term
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Definition
-Commission of offense
-Attempt to practice beyond scope
-Signing of any form if supervising MD has not authorized
-Supervising MDs license suspended or revoked |
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Term
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Definition
| -System of principles and processes by which people in a society deal with their disputes and problems, seeking to solve or settle them without resorting to force |
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Term
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Definition
-AKA case law or precedent
-Developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals |
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Term
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Definition
-Legal system that gives great precedential wt to common law
-Body of precedent is called "common law" and it binds future decisions |
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Term
| Matter of First Impression |
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Definition
| -If court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally different from all previous cases, judges have the authority and duty to make law by creating precedent |
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Term
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Definition
-Written law - emanates from legislative bodies
-Law set down by a legislature or by a legislator |
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Term
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Definition
| -Refers to statutes that have been organized ("codified") by subject matter, in this narrower sense, some but not all statutes are considered "codified." The entire body of codified stature is referred to as a "code," such as the US Code |
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Term
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Definition
-Public law is issued by administrative agencies to direct enacted laws
-Body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government.
-Considered a branch of public law |
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Term
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Definition
-Relationships between individuals and government
-Constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are all sub-divisions of public law |
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Term
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Definition
-Relationships between individuals
-Part of a civil law legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts or torts |
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Term
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Definition
-Preservation of peace between individuals
-Fault-Finding for wrongdoing
-Acts as a deterrence to wrongful acts
-Indemnify injured person(s) |
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Term
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Definition
| -Commission or Omission of an act that a reasonably prudent person would or would not do under given circumstances |
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Term
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Definition
-Administering the wrong drug
-Administering the wrong dose
-Mislabeling a med
-Performing wrong-sided Sx |
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Term
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Definition
-Failure to administer meds
-Failure to follow up on labs
-Failure to obtain consent
-Failure to monitor a pt |
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Term
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Definition
-Negligence of a professional person:
-Surgeon who conducts Sx on wrong part
-RN who administers wrong Rx injuring pt
-Pharmacist who mislabels med and pt is harmed |
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Term
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Definition
-Reckless disregard for the safety of another
-Willful indifference to injury that could follow an act |
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Term
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Definition
1. Malfeasance: Execution of an unlawful or improper act
2. Misfeasance: Improper performance of an act
3. Nonfeasance: Failure to act when there is a duty to act |
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Term
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Definition
| -Legal obligation of care imposed on one to safeguard rights of others |
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Term
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Definition
1. Defendant must have been within specified class of persons outlined in the statute
2. Plaintiff must have been injured in a way statute was designed to prevent
3. Plaintiff must show that injury would not have occurred if the statute had not been violated |
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Term
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Definition
-Must be a deviation from recognized standard of care
-Must be a failure to adhere to obligation |
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Term
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Definition
| -Actual damages must be established; without injury damages cannot be awarded |
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Term
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Definition
| -Must be a reasonable, close and causal connection between the defendant's negligent conduct and resulting damages suffered |
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Term
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Definition
| -Reasonable anticipation that harm of injury is likely to result from an act or an omission of an act |
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Term
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Definition
-Assault & Battery
-False Imprisonment
-Defamation of Character
-Invasion of Privacy
-Infliction of Mental Distress |
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Term
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Definition
-Assault: deliberate threat, coupled with apparent ability to do physical harm to another. Actual contact not necessary
-Battery: intentional touching of another's person in socially impermissible manner without person's consent |
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Term
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Definition
| -Unlawful restrain of individual's personal liberty or unlawful restraining or confining of an individual |
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Term
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Definition
-Involves communications to someone other than the person defamed that tends to hold that person's reputation up to scorn and ridicule
-Slander: spoken
-Libel: written |
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Term
| Infliction of Mental Distress |
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Definition
| -Conduct that is so outrageous that it goes beyond the bounds tolerated by decent society |
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Term
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Definition
| -A special kind of agreement, either written or oral, that involves legally binding obligations between two or more parties |
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Term
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Definition
1. Employment Contracts
2. Exclusive Contracts
3. Commercial Ethics and Non Competition Agreements |
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Term
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Definition
-A principle of law
-No one can lawfully do that which tends to be injurious to the public |
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Term
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Definition
1. Legislation
2. Administrative rules, regulations or decisions
3. Judicial decisions
4. Professional code of ethics may contain an expression of public policy |
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Term
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Definition
-States:
1. Cannot deny any person equal protection of law
2. Shall not make or enforce any law which shall abridge privileges or immunities of citizens
3. Shall not deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law
4. Shall not deny any person equal protection of laws |
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Term
| Health Insurance and Portability Act |
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Definition
-HIPAA
-Designed to protect the privacy, confidentiality and security of pt info |
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Term
| Emergency Medical Tx & Active Labor Act |
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Definition
-EMTALA
-To ensure non-discriminatory access to emergency medical care and appropriate inter-hospital transfers
-To prevent dumping and reverse dumping and the disparate Tx of pts |
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Term
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Definition
| -Screening and stabilization are required for all pts seeking emergency services within 250 yards of the hospital's main buildings |
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Term
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Definition
-MSE
-Process to reach, with reasonable clinical confidence, the point at which it can be determined whether a medical emergency does or does not exist
-Triage is NOT an MSE
-Must be consistent
-Must be performed by qualified staff
-Cannot differ in location
-Ongoing process until D/C |
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Term
| Emergency Medical Condition |
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Definition
-Means a medical condition manifesting itself by actue symptoms of sufficient severity such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in:
-Placing the health of pt in jeopardy
-Serious impairment to bodily fxn
-Serious dysfxn of nay bodily organ
-Pregnancy with contractions |
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Term
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Definition
| -Treating physician has determined, within reasonable clinical confidence, that the pt is expected to be received at the next facility, with no material deterioration in his/her medical condition; and the physician reasonably believes the receiving facility has the capability to manage the pt's medical condition and any reasonable foreseeable complication of that condition |
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Term
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Definition
| -The pt has reached the point where his/her care, including diagnostic work-up and Tx, could reasonably be performed as an outpt or later as an inpt |
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Term
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Definition
| -The movement of an individual outside a hospital's facilities at the direction of nay person employed by the hospital |
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Term
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Definition
-Transferring hospital provides medical tx within the capacity that minimized the risks to pts health
-The receiving hospital has available space and qualified personnel and has agreed to the transfer
-The transferring hospital sends all medical records related to the emergency condition
-Transfer is effected by quality personnel and equipment |
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Term
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Definition
| -The principal legislation which created the "peer review system" in America today is the Health Care Quality Improvement Act, which was enacted to reduce the number of medical malpractice suits hospitals were faced with by eliminating incompetent physicians |
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Term
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Definition
| -The voluntary agreement by a person who possesses sufficient mental capacity to make an intelligent choice to allow something proposed by another to be performed. Be mindful of the adequacy of the consent |
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Term
| Expressed vs Implied Consent |
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Definition
-Expressed: verbal or written agreement authorizing Tx
-Implied: presumption that consent has been authorized based on the nature of the pt's condition |
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Term
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Definition
-Pts have an obligation to make medical preferences known
-Protects pt's right to freedom of religion and self-determination
-Court will always choose to preserve life |
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Term
| Before declaring an individual incapacitated a physician must: |
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Definition
-Determine with reasonable degree of medical certainty that the pt lacks capacity
-Make a notation in the record describing reason
-A&O X 3? Does pt comprehend?
-This is a case to case basis and administration of pain meds should be taken into consideration |
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Term
| Should a physician describe every possible outcome of a procedure? |
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Definition
-NO.
-Mention the common, pertinent ones; some of the risks are so rare it is not worth bringing up. |
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Term
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Definition
-Oral consent may be needed when pt is obtunded and consent is received from next of kin out of state.
-Written consent
-Implied consent: Emergency --> 2 physicians determine it is an emergency then they can provide consent on behalf of the pt |
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Term
| Who may Authorize consent? |
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Definition
-Competent Pt
-Spouse
-Guardian
-Parents of Minor
-Legal Guardian: Spouse, next of kin, children over 19, siblings over 19 |
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Term
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Definition
-Action that is done for the benefit of others
-In the OR --> Always resuscitate regardless of DNR |
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Term
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Definition
| -The mentally incompetent cannot legally consent to Tx |
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Term
| State rights can override refusal of Tx |
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Definition
-Preservation of life
-Protection of Third Parties
-Prevention of suicide |
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Term
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Definition
-An emergency in most states eliminates the need for consent
-Under Alabama Law in a life threatening emergency, two physicians may give consent when necessary to proceed |
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Term
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Definition
| -Every human being of adult years and sound mind has the right to determine what shall be done with his or her own body |
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Term
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Definition
-Constitutional right to privacy protects pt's right to self-determination
-A state's interest does not justify interference with one's right to refuse Tx |
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Term
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Definition
| -"No Code" orders are valid to prevent the use of artificial resuscitative measure on incompetent terminally ill pts |
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Term
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Definition
| -Pt's mental impairment and his or her medical prognosis with or without Tx must be considered prior to seeking judicial approval to withdraw or withhold Tx from an incompetent pt |
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Term
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Definition
-Irreversible cessation of brain fxn
-Requires 3 ECGs within 36 hrs to determine brain death |
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Term
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Definition
| -Instrument or legal document that describes Txs individual wishes or does not wish to receive should he/she become incapacitated and unable to communicate Tx decisions |
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Term
| Durable Power of Attorney |
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Definition
-A lega device that permits one individual known as "principal" to give another person "attorney-in-fact" authority to act on his or her behalf.
-An agent makes health & personal care decisions for the pt in event the pt become unable to make his/her own decisions |
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Term
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Definition
| -A document that allows a person to appoint a health care agent to make Tx decisions in event he/she becomes incompetent and is unable to make decisions for him/herself -->Does not have to be a spouse |
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Term
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Definition
-Form of surrogate decision-making where the surrogate attempts to establish what decision the pt would have made if that pt were competent to do so
-Chosen by the either the attending or by an Ethics committee of the hospital |
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Term
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Definition
1. Attending determines that: individual no longer able to understand his/her medical tx and has no hope of regaining ability
2. Two physicians, have personally examined the individual and have Dx and certified in the record that the individual has a terminal illness
3. No evidence of advanced directive
4. Treating physician determines that withholding life-sustaining Tx or artificially provided nutrition and hydration will not result in undue pain or discomfort for the pt |
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Term
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Definition
-"Let the Master Answer"
-Legal doctrine which states that, in many circumstances, the employer is responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their employment
-Also referred to as vicarious liablility |
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Term
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Definition
| -Occurs where two or more separate acts, on the part of the defendants, combine to cause one indivisible injury to the plaintiff |
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