Health-Care Law, Ethics & Mental-Health History

Vocabulary flashcards covering key legal terms, ethical principles, care settings, and historical concepts from the lecture transcript.

Acute Care Hospital

A facility that provides short-term, intensive medical treatment for patients with severe or urgent conditions.

Specialty Surgical Center

An outpatient facility focused on specific surgical procedures, often offering quicker, lower-cost care than hospitals.

Urgent Care Center

A walk-in clinic for illnesses or injuries that need prompt attention but are not life-threatening emergencies.

Hospice

Comprehensive end-of-life care that emphasizes comfort, pain control, and quality of life rather than curative treatment.

Health-Care Law

The body of federal and state statutes, regulations, and case law governing the delivery of medical services.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

U.S. law that protects patient privacy and controls the sharing of health information.

EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act)

Federal law requiring hospitals to screen and stabilize anyone in an emergency or active labor, regardless of ability to pay.

Nurse Practice Act

State statute that defines the scope of nursing practice and sets legal requirements for licensure and professional conduct.

Malpractice

Professional negligence that causes injury; proven by duty, breach, harm, and causation.

Negligence

Failure to act as a reasonably prudent nurse would, leading to potential harm.

Duty

The legal obligation a nurse owes to a patient once a care relationship is established.

Breach of Duty

Failure to meet the accepted standard of care.

Harm (Damages)

Physical, emotional, or financial injury suffered by a patient.

Causation

Direct link between the nurse’s breach and the patient’s harm.

Informed Consent

Permission given by a competent patient after receiving full disclosure of risks, benefits, and alternatives.

Age of Consent (Ohio)

Legal age—18 for general treatment; 14 for certain reproductive or mental-health services.

Advance Directive

Legal document stating a person’s wishes for medical care if they become unable to communicate.

Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order

Medical order instructing health-care providers not to perform CPR if breathing or heartbeat stops.

Organ Donation Authorization

Legal consent to donate tissues or organs after death.

Active Euthanasia

Deliberate action taken to end a patient’s life to relieve suffering.

Passive Euthanasia

Allowing death by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments.

Autonomy

Ethical principle that respects the patient’s right to make independent decisions.

Beneficence

Ethical duty to promote good and act in the patient’s best interest.

Non-Maleficence

Obligation to avoid causing harm ("do no harm").

Justice

Ethical principle demanding fair and equal treatment of all patients.

Fidelity

Keeping promises and maintaining trust in the nurse–patient relationship.

Veracity

Ethical duty of truthfulness with patients.

Assault

Intentional threat or attempt to make another person fearful of imminent harm.

Battery

Intentional, unauthorized physical contact with a patient.

False Imprisonment

Unlawful restriction of a person’s freedom of movement (e.g., improper restraints).

Elopement (Health Care)

When a patient leaves a facility without authorization or disappears during care.

Voluntary Admission

Patient willingly seeks inpatient psychiatric treatment and may request discharge.

Involuntary Admission

Court- or provider-initiated psychiatric hospitalization against a patient’s will for safety reasons.

72-Hour Hold

Emergency, short-term involuntary commitment period pending further evaluation.

Slander

Spoken false statement damaging someone’s reputation.

Libel

Written or printed false statement harming someone’s reputation.

Lobotomy

Historic neurosurgical procedure once used to treat mental illness by severing brain connections.

Hysteria (Historical)

Outdated diagnosis attributing women’s emotional behavior to a wandering uterus.

Deinstitutionalization

1960s movement that closed large psychiatric hospitals and shifted care to community settings.

Ergot Poisoning

Ingestion of rye fungus causing hallucinogenic symptoms, once mistaken for witchcraft or insanity.

Mental-Health Stigma

Negative societal attitudes and discrimination toward people with psychiatric disorders.