Chapter 4: Legal Aspects of Nursing
Terms
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- Answer
- (legal) a written response made by the defendant
- Assault
- an attempt or threat to touch another person unjustifiably
- Battery
- the willful or negligent touching of a person (or the person's clothes or even something the person is carrying), which may or may not cause harm
- Breach of duty
- a standard of care that is expected in the specific situation but that the nurse did not observe
- Burden of proof
- the duty of proving an assertion
- Causation
- a fact that must be proven that the harm occurred as a direct result of the nurse’s failure to follow the standard of care and the nurse could have (or should have) known that failure to follow the standard of care could result in such harm
- Civil action
- deals with the relationship between individuals in society
- Civil law
- the body of law that deals with relationships among private individuals
- Common law
- the body of principles that evolves from court decisions
- Complaint
- (legal) a document filed by the plaintiff
- Contract
- a written or verbal agreement between two or more people to do or not do some lawful act
- Contract law
- the enforcement of agreements among private individuals or the payment of compensation for failure to fulfill the agreement
- Contractual obligations
- duty of care established by the presence of an expressed or implied contract
- Contractual relationships
- vary among practice settings
- Credentialing
- the process of determining and maintaining competence in practice
- Crime
- an act committed in violation of public (criminal) law and punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment
- Criminal action
- deals with disputes between an individual and the society as a whole
- Criminal law
- deals with actions against the safety and welfare of the public
- Damages
- if malpractice caused the injury, the nurse is held liable for damages that may be compensated
- Decision
- (legal) outcome made by a judge
- Defamation
- (legal) a communication that is false, or made with careless disregard for the truth, and results in injury to the reputation of another
- Defendant
- (legal) person against whom the plaintiff files a complaint against
- Delegation
- transferring to a competent individual the authority to perform a selected nursing task in a selected situation
- Discovery
- (legal) pretrial activities to gain all the facts of the situation
- Duty
- the nurse must have (or should have had) a relationship with the client that involves providing care and following an acceptable standard of care
- Expert witness
- one who has special training, experience, or skill in a relevant area and is allowed by the court to offer an opinion on some issue within that area of expertise
- Express consent
- an oral or written agreement
- False imprisonment
- the unlawful restraint or detention of another person against his or her wishes
- Felony
- a crime of a serious nature, such as murder, punishable by a term in prison
- Foreseeability
- a link that must exist between the nurse’s act and the injury suffered
- Gross negligence
- involves extreme lack of knowledge, skill, or decision making that the person clearly should have known would put others at risk for harm
- Harm
- the client or plaintiff must demonstrate some type of harm or injury (physical, financial or emotional) as a result of the breach of duty owed the client. The plaintiff will be asked to document physical injury, medical costs, loss of wages, "pain and suffering," and any other damages
- Impaired nurse
- a nurse whose practice has deteriorated because of chemical abuse
- Implied consent
- consent that is assumed in an emergency when consent cannot be obtained from the client or a relative
- Implied contract
- a contract that has not been explicitly agreed to by the parties but that the law nevertheless considers to exist
- Informed consent
- a client's agreement to accept a course of treatment or a procedure after receiving complete information, including the risks of treatment and facts relating to it, from the physician
- Injury
- see Harm
- Interstate compact
- an agreement between two or more states
- Invasion of privacy
- a direct wrong of a personal nature, it injures the feelings of the person and does not take into account the effect of reveled information on the standing of the person in the community
- Law
- A rule made by humans that regulate social conduct in a formally prescribed and binding manner
- Liability
- the quality or state of being legally responsible for one’s obligations and action and to make financial restitution for wrongful acts
- Libel
- defamation by means of print, writing, or pictures
- License
- a legal permits granted to individuals to engage in the practice of a profession and to use a particular title
- Litigation
- the action of a lawsuit
- Malpractice
- the negligent acts of persons engaged in professions or occupations in which highly technical or professional skills are employed
- Mandated reporters
- a role of the nurse in which he or she identifies and assesses cases of violence against others, and in every case the situation must be reported to the proper authorities
- Manslaughter
- second degree murder
- Misdemeanor
- a legal offense usually punishable by a fine or a short-term jail sentence, or both
- Mutual recognition model
- a new regulatory model developed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), which allows for multistate licensure
- Negligence
- failure to behave in a reasonable and prudent manner
- Plaintiff
- a person claiming infringement of legal rights by one or more persons
- Private law
- (civil law) the body of law that deals with relationships between private individuals
- Public law
- refers to the body of law that deals with relationships between individuals and the government and governmental agencies
- Res ipsa loquitur
- "the thing that speaks for itself"
- Respondeat superior
- a legal term meaning "let the master answer"
- Right
- a privilege or fundamental power to which an individual is entitled unless it is revoked by law or given up voluntarily
- Responsibility
- the obligation associated with a right
- Slander
- defamation by the spoken word, stating unprivileged (not legally protected) or false words by which a reputation is damaged
- Standards of care
- detailed guidelines describing the minimal nursing care that can reasonably be expected to ensure high quality care in a defined situation (eg, a medical diagnosis or a diagnostic test)
- Statutory law
- a law enacted by any legislative body
- Strike
- an organized work stoppage by a group of employees to express a grievance, enforce a demand for changes in condition of employment, or solve a dispute with management
- Tort
- a civil wrong committed against a person or a person's property
- Tort law
- law that defines and enforces duties and rights among private individuals that are not based on contractual agreements
- Trial
- the period during which all the relevant facts are presented to a jury or judge
- Unprofessional conduct
- one of the grounds for action against the nurse's license
- Verdict
- the outcome made by a jury