Emt-B Ch.3 -Medical, Legal, & Ethical Issues

Front 1

Abandonment

Back 1

Unilateral termination of care by the EMT-B without the patient's consent and without making provisions for transferring care to another medical professional with skills at the same level or higher.

Front 2

Advance directive

Back 2

Written documentation that specifies medical treatment for a competent patient should the patient become unable to make decisions; also called a living will.

Front 3

Assault

Back 3

Unlawfully placing a patient in fear of bodily harm.

Front 4

Battery

Back 4

Touching a patient or providing emergency care without consent.

Front 5

Certification

Back 5

A process in which a person, an institution, or a program is evaluated and recognized as meeting certain predetermined standards to provide safe and ethical care.

Front 6

Competent

Back 6

Able to make rational decisions about personal well-being.

Front 7

Consent

Back 7

Permission to render care.

Front 8

Dependent lividity

Back 8

Blood settling to the lowest point of the body, causing discoloration of the skin.

Front 9

DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders

Back 9

Written documentation by a physician giving permission to medical personnel not to attempt resuscitation in the event of cardiac arrest.

Front 10

Duty to act

Back 10

A medicolegal term relating to certain personnel who either by statute or by function have a responsibility to provide care.

Front 11

Emergency

Back 11

A serious situation, such as injury or illness, that threatens the life or welfare of a person or group of people and requires immediate intervention.

Front 12

Emergency medical care

Back 12

Immediate care or treatment.

Front 13

Expressed consent

Back 13

A type of consent in which a patient gives express authorization for provision of care or transport.

Front 14

Forcible restraint

Back 14

The act of physically preventing an individual from any physical action.

Front 15

Good Samaritan laws

Back 15

Statutory provisions enacted by many states to protect citizens from liability for errors and omissions in giving good faith emergency medical care, unless there is wanton, gross, or willful negligence.

Front 16

Implied consent

Back 16

Type of consent in which a patient who is unable to give consent is given treatment under the legal assumption that he or she would want treatment.

Front 17

Informed consent

Back 17

Permission for treatment given by a competent patient after the potential risk, benefits, and alternatives to treatment have been explained.

Front 18

Medicolegal

Back 18

A term relating to medical jurisprudence (law) or forensic medicine.

Front 19

Negligence

Back 19

Failure to provide the same care that a person with similar training would provide.

Front 20

Precedence

Back 20

Basing current action on lessons, rules, or guidelines derived from previous similar experiences.

Front 21

Putrefaction

Back 21

Decomposition of body tissues.

Front 22

Rigor mortis

Back 22

Stiffening of the body; a definitive sign of death.

Front 23

Standard of care

Back 23

Written, accepted levels of emergency care expected by reason of training and profession; written by legal or professional organizations so that patients are not exposed to unreasonable risk or harm.