Ethico-Legal

Autonomy

Respecting a competent person's right to make decisions concerning their own health and body.

Beneficence

Doing good and acting for the benefit of the patient.

Nonmaleficence

Do no harm

The nurse should avoid actions that could unnecessarily harm the patient.

Justice

Fairness and equitable treatment.

Fidelity

Keeping promises and maintaining professional commitments.

Veracity

Nurses should provide accurate and honest information and should avoid deliberately misleading patients.

Confidentiality

• Protecting private patient information.

• Patient information should only be accessed, used, or disclosed for legitimate purposes.

Accountability

Accepting responsibility for one's actions and decisions.

Respect for human dignity

• Every patient should be treated as a person with inherent worth.

Deontology

• Deontology emphasizes duties and rules.

Utilitarianism

• Focuses on achieving the greatest good for the greatest number.

Virtue Ethics

Focuses on the character of the healthcare professional.

Ethics of care

• Relationships

• Compassion

• Responsiveness

• Human connection

• Context of care

• This perspective is particularly relevant to nursing because nursing involves continuing relationships with patients and families.

Philippine Constitution

provides the fundamental legal framework for government and the protection of individual rights.

RA No. 9173 - Philippine Nursing Act of 2002

• This is one of the most important laws for Filipino nurses.

• It addresses matters such as:

  • Nursing practice 

  • Nursing education 

  • Licensure 

  • Professional regulation 

  • Scope of nursing practice 

  • Professional responsibilities 

  • The Board of Nursing

Professional Regulation Commission

• regulates many professions in the Philippines, including nursing through the Board of Nursing.

Board of Nursing

• Regulation of nursing practice 

• Licensure 

• Professional standards 

• Rules and regulations 

• Professional discipline

Nursing Code of Ethics

The professional Code of Ethics provides standards for professional conduct and ethical nursing practice.

Hospital and institutional policies

• Healthcare institutions establish policies concerning:

  • Medication administration 

  • Infection prevention 

  • Documentation 

  • Patient identification 

  • Restraints 

  • Emergency care 

  • Incident reporting 

  • Confidentiality

  • Delegation

Civil Law

Generally involves disputes between individuals or organizations.

Criminal Law

Addresses acts considered offenses against the state or society.

Administrative Law

• Involves rules and actions of government regulatory agencies.

• For nurses, this may include professional regulation and disciplinary proceedings.

Battery

Unlawful touching of another person without consent.

Assault

Imminent threat of harmful or offensive bodily contact.

intentional act that creates a reasonable apprehension of harmful or offensive contact 

Slander

Oral defamation

Libel

Defamation by written words

Invasion of privacy

• Divulging information from patient to unauthorized persons

Illegal detention

Individuals are incorrectly led to believe they cannot leave a place

Negligence

• Commission or omission of an act, pursuant to a duty, that a reasonably prudent person in the same or similar circumstance would or would not do.

• failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under similar circumstances

Doctrine of Respondeat Superior

Let the master answer for his/her subordinates

Doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitur

Let the thing speaks for itself

Doctrine of Force Majeure

Event which cannot be foreseen; an act of God; unexpected event. 

Captain of the Ship

Principle of medical-malpractice law, holding a surgeon liable for the actions of assistants who are under the surgeon's control but who are employees of the hospital, not the surgeon. 

Malpractice

Unskillful and improper discharge of one’s duties or professional negligence.

It occurs when a professional fails to meet the applicable professional standard of care and the patient is harmed as a result 

Incompetence

NO, NO! How many times do I tell you, nurse? The appendix is a small pink thing about this big

Crimes

An act committed or omitted in violation of the law.

Criminal Act

Criminal Intent

Elements of criminal offenses

Murder

The unlawful killing of a human being with intent to kill.

Homicide

• The killing of a human being without intent or plan to kill.

Parricide

• A crime committed by one who kills his/her father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his/her ascendants or descendants of his/her spouse.

Infanticide

• The killing of a child less than 3 days of age.

Abortion

The expulsion of the product of conception before the age of viability.

Attempted

When the offender commences the commission of the felony directly and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the effect by reason of some causes other than his own spontaneous desistance.

Frustrated

When the offender performs all the acts of execution which would produce a felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.

Consummated

When all elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment are present.

Principal

• Those who directly force or induce others to commit the act.

• Those who take direct part in the execution of the act.

  • Cooperation

  • Inducement

  • Direct Participation

Accomplice

• Have the intention to help morally or materially in the commission of the crime.

• The persons who have a common criminal purpose with the principal.

• Assists in the escape of the Principal.

Accessories

• Those having knowledge of the commission of the crime without having participated therein.

• Conceals or destroys the body of the crime or instrument thereof in order to prevent its discovery.

Justifying Circumstances

• In defense of his person or rights

• In defense of the rights of his family

• In defense of the right of a stranger

• In order to avoid an evil or injury

• In the fulfillment of a duty

• In obedience to an order by a superior for some lawful purposes

Exempting Circumstances

• An imbecile or insane

• Under nine years old

• Over nine and under fifteen (unless acted on discernment)

• While performing a lawful act with due care, cause an injury by mere accident without fault or intention of causing it

Mitigating Circumstances

• Under 18 or over 70

• No intention to commit so grave a wrong as the one committed

• There was sufficient provocation

• Acted on impulse so powerful as to have produced passion

• Voluntary surrendered

• Deaf, dumb, blind or suffering from defect

• Illness that diminishes willpower

Aggravating Circumstances

• Public position

• In contempt of authority

• With abuse of confidence

• Committed at night time or in an uninhabited place

• Committed in calamity

• Committed in consideration of reward

• Committed by means of fire, poison

• With evident premeditation

• Use of superior strength

• Committed after unlawful entry

Tort

is a civil wrong that causes harm

False imprisonment

involves unlawfully restricting a person’s freedom of movement

Invasion of privacy

• Looking at records without a legitimate reason

• Discussing patient information in public areas

• Taking unauthorized photographs

• Posting patient information on social media

• Sharing clinical stories containing identifiable information

Defamation

involves communicating false statements that damage another person’s reputation

Informed consent

is the patient’s voluntary agreement to a proposed intervention after receiving adequate information necessary for an informed decision

Advance directives

allow individuals to communicate preferences concerning future healthcare decisions when they may later be unable to communicate or make decisions 

Do not resuscitate

generally means that cardiopulmonary resuscitation should not be initiated if cardiac or respiratory arrest occurs, according to the applicable order and policy

RA No. 10173 - Data Privacy Act of 2012

• It establishes a framework for protecting personal information

Incident reports

is used to document an unusual event or occurrence according to institutional policy 

Medication errors

Medication administration creates significant ethical and legal responsibilities 

The nurse should:

• Assess the patient immediately

• Take appropriate clinical action

• Notify the appropriate healthcare provider

• Follow institutional medication-error reporting procedures

• Document the patient’s condition and care objectively 

• Participate in disclosure and follow-up according to institutional policy and applicable requirements 

Delegation

means assigning selected tasks to another qualified individual while retaining appropriate accountability for the delegation decision and supervision

Ethical dilemma

occurs when two or more ethical values or obligations conflict