CHAPTER 4
LEGAL ETHICS
Lancaster High School
Mrs. Carpenter
Health Tech Prep 1
ETHICAL ASPECTS
• Ethical behavior involves not being
prejudiced or biased.
• Judgments and views are based on
the person’s
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Culture
Religion
Education
experiences.
THINK ABOUT IT
• How can prejudices or biases
affect the care YOU provide?
• How can YOU deal with YOUR
prejudices and biases when
providing care?
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Laws tell you what you can and
cannot do.
• A law is a rule of conduct made
by a government body.
• Enforced by the government,
laws protect the public welfare.
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Criminal laws
• concerned with offenses against
the public and against society in
general.
• An act that violates a criminal law
is called a crime.
• Murder
• Robbery
• Assault and battery
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Civil laws are concerned with
relationships between people.
• Torts
• Torts are part of civil law.
• wrong committed against a
person or the person’s property.
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Unintentional torts
• Negligence
• The negligent person failed to act in a
reasonable and careful manner.
• harm was caused to the person or property of
another.
• The person did not mean or intend to cause
harm.
• Malpractice
• negligence by a professional person
professional status because of training,
education, and the service provided.
Groups will use the internet to
find a case of negligence or
malpractice in the health care
industry.
Report the following:
• summary of the case
• Was the case negligence or
malpractice
• Determine why the case was
negligence or malpractice based
on information given in class.
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Intentional Tort
• Defamation
• injuring a person’s name or reputation by
making false statements to a third person.
• Libel
• making false statements in print, writing, or
through pictures or drawings.
• Slander
• making false statements orally
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Intentional Tort –con’t
• False imprisonment
• the unlawful restraint or restriction of
a person’s freedom of movement.
• involves:
− Threatening to restrain a person
− Restraining a person
− Preventing a person from leaving the
agency
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Intentional Tort –con’t
• Invasion of privacy
• violating a person’s right not to have his or
her name, picture, or private affairs exposed
or made public without giving consent.
• The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
 protects the privacy and security of a
patient’s health information.
 You must follow agency policies and
procedures
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Intentional Tort –con’t
• Fraud
• saying or doing something to trick,
fool, or deceive
a person.
-is fraud if it does or may cause
harm to a person or the person’s
property.
LEGAL ASPECTS
• Intentional Tort –con’t
• Assault and battery
• may result in both civil and criminal charges.
• Assault
− intentionally attempting or threatening to touch a
person’s body without the person’s consent.
• Battery
− touching a person’s body without his or her consent.
• The person must consent to any
procedure,
treatment, or other act that involves
touching the
body.
INFORMED CONSENT
• the person clearly understands:
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The reason for a treatment
What will be done
How it will be done
Who will do it
The expected outcomes
Other treatment options
The effects of not having the treatment
****Persons under legal age and mentally
incompetent persons cannot give consent.
REPORTING ABUSE
• Abuse
• mistreatment or harm of another person.
• Abuse is a crime.
• one or more of the following elements
present
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Willful causing of injury
Unreasonable confinement
Intimidation
Punishment
Depriving the person of goods or services
needed for physical, mental, or psychosocial
well being
• Abuse causes physical harm,
pain, or mental anguish
• Protection against abuse
extends to persons in a coma
ABUSE
• Elder abuse
• Elder abuse can take the following
forms
• Physical abuse
(1) Grabbing, hitting, slapping, kicking,
pinching, hairpulling, or beating
(2) Corporal punishment
• Punishment inflicted directly on the
body
NEGLECT
• Neglect
• The person is deprived of needed
health care or treatment.
• Failure to provide food, clothing,
hygiene, and other needs
ABUSE
• Verbal abuse
• Using oral or written words or
statements that speak badly of,
sneer at, criticize, or condemn the
person
• Unkind gestures
• Involuntary seclusion
• Confining the person to a certain
area
ABUSE
• Financial abuse
• The person’s money is stolen or
used by another person.
• A person’s property is misused.
• Mental abuse
• Humiliation, harassment, ridicule,
and threats of punishment
SIGNS OF ABUSE
• Box 3-5 and 3-6 on page 34
Child abuse
• Risk factors for child abuse include:
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Stress
Family crisis
Drug or alcohol abuse
Abuser history of being abused as a child
Discipline beliefs that include physical punishment
Lack of emotional attachment to the child
A child with birth defects or chronic illness
A child with a personality or behaviors that the
abuser considers “different” or unacceptable
• Unrealistic expectations for the child’s behavior or
performance
• Families that move often and do not have other
family members or friends nearby
Child abuse
• Abuse differs from neglect.
• Types of child abuse
• Physical neglect
• to deprive the child of food, clothing, shelter, and
medical care.
• Emotional neglect
• not meeting the child’s need for affection and
attention.
• Physical abuse
• injuring the child on purpose.
• Sexual abuse
• using, persuading, or forcing a child to engage in
sexual conduct.
Child abuse
• Rape
• forced sexual intercourse with a person who
is not of legal age to give consent.
• Molestation
• sexual advances toward a child.
• Incest
• sexual activity between family members.
• Child pornography
• taking pictures or video taping a child
involved in sexual acts.
• Child prostitution
• forcing a child to engage in sexual activity for
money
Child abuse
• The health team must be alert for
signs and symptoms of child abuse.
• State laws require the reporting of
suspected child abuse.
• If you suspect child abuse, share
your concerns with the RN.
• The RN contacts health team
members and child protection
agencies as needed
CARE PLAN
WORKSHEET
• After reading the scenario on
the worksheet answer the
questions and be prepared to
discuss these in class.
•ASSIGNMENT:
WORKBOOK
#1-81