Legal and Ethical Principles in Surgical Technology

Vocabulary flashcards derived from lecture notes on medical law, ethics, and professional conduct in the operating room.

Abandonment

Failure to stay with a patient and provide care.

Accountability

Accepting responsibility for ones actions

Administrative law

Laws created by an agency or a department of the US government

Advance directive

A document in which a person gives instructions about their medical care in the event that the individual cannot speak for themselves. Examples are a living will and a medical power of attorney.

Adverse event

An unanticipated, undesirable, or potentially dangerous occurrence in a health care organization

Code of conduct

A set of rules or guidelines an organization writes for its members.

Damages

compensation ($) for an injury caused by negligence

Delegation

The assignment of one’s duties to another person.

Evidence-based practice

A set of rules or guidelines an organization writes for its members.

Horizontal abuse

Verbal abuse or sabotage of people of equal job or professional ranking.

Hospital policy

Rules or regulations that hospitial employees are required to follow

Informed consent

A process or legal document that describes the patient’s surgical procedure and the risks, consequences, and benefits of that procedure.

Libel

A deliberate attempt to discredit another person in writing

Negligence

Doing something a reasonable person would not do.

Perjury

The crime of intentionally lying or falsifying information during court testomony after a person was sworn to tell the truth.

Practice acts

State laws that establish and regulate the conditions under which professionals may practice, including licensure, registration, educational requirements, scope of duties, and functions.

Regulations

Laws that are enforced by state and federal agencies.

Retained foreign object

An object that was left inside a patient during surgery.

Sentinel event

A patient safety event that is not related to the patient’s illness or underlying condition, resulting in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm requiring intervention to sustain life.

Sexual harassment

Abuse of power where an individual uses sexualized language, gestures, or unwanted touch to intimidate another person.

Slander

A deliberate attempt to discredit a person through speech

Statutes

Laws passed by federal or state legislative bodies.

Subpoena

A court order requiring recipent to appear and testify ar=t a trial or deposition.

Tort

Legal wrongdoing that results in injury to a person or property,

Universal protocol

A patient safety event that is not related to the patient’s illness or underlying condition, resulting in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm requiring intervention to sustain life.

Unretrieved device fragment

A portion of a medical device that has broken off or come apart in the body and is not detected or removed. Examples are fragments of a broken surgical needle and a hinge pin of a surgical instrument.

Vertical abuse

Bully, atemots to devalue, intimidate or embarss an individual. Occurs between people of 2 different levels.

Respondeat superior

let the master respond.

Res ipsa loquitur

the thing speaks for itself

Primum non nocere

first do no harm

Doctrine of foreseeability

In an effort to prevent harm to the patient, the health professional should be able to predict specific risks associated with their duties that could injure the patient.

Documentation

Its a way for health professionals to communicate patient procedures, diagnosis,treatments, conditions etc. It represents a permanent legal record of the patient’s interaction with health care providers and services.

Lateral abuse

Abuse that takes place among staff members of equal rank and position; it creates tension and an uncomfortable work environment.

Bullying (The Joint Commission)

verbal abuse, threatening, intimidating, or humiliating behaviors, work interference, that prevents the individual from performing required tasks

Workplace violence: Threat to professional status

public humiliation

Workplace violence: Threat to personal standing

name calling, insults, teasing

Workplace violence: Isolation

withholding information

Workplace violence: Overwork

impossible deadlines

Workplace violence: Destabilization

failing to give credit where credit is due

Legal doctrines

Legal principles or rules established through legal precedents

Common law

Branch of law that applies previous legal decisions to a case currently being judged

Criminal law

State and federal laws that make specific behaviors illegal

Civil law

Laws that protect the rights of individuals

Defamation

deliberate efforts to erode the reputation of another person.

Assault

the threat or attempt to harm another person.

Battery

involves contact with intent to injure and applies even if no injury occurred.

False imprisonment

Restraints become a method of managing a group of patients all in one place, possibly against their will.

HIPAA

protects a patient’s medical records and other health information through its privacy rule.

Invasion of privacy

intentional tort involving publicly discussing or depicting patients outside the health care environment.