Comprehensive Study Guide on Ethics and Jurisprudence in Radiologic Technology
Fundamental Rights and Responsibilities
Right: A claim to particular privilege.
Responsibility:
An obligation to answer for an act done.
An obligation on the person to perform some act for which he becomes accountable.
Rights and Responsibilities of Radiologic Technologists:
To promote health.
To prevent illness.
To restore health.
To alleviate suffering.
Rights of Patients:
Radiologic/X-ray technologists are responsible to those people that require nursing care.
Promotes an environment in which the values, customs, and spiritual beliefs of the individual are respected.
Needs confidence, personal information, and uses judgment in sharing this information.
Legal Contracts in Radiologic Technology
Contract:
An agreement mutually arrived by two or more individuals to do a particular thing in exchange for some consideration.
Meeting of minds between two or more parties.
Must have employer and employee relationship.
Types of Contracts:
Formal Contract: Those which cannot be perfected without compliance with the special formalities required by the law, such as donations and mortgages of real property.
Informal Contract: Result of written document or correspondence which the law does not require special formalities.
Express Contract: Those contracts where the consent of the parties is given expressly in writing or verbally.
Implied Contract: Those contracts where the consent of the parties is not given expressly but is deducible from the conduct or acts of the parties, such as an implied agency.
Requisites of Contract:
Two or more persons must participate.
Consent must be freely given.
Object or subject matter must be specified.
Cause of obligation is established (in every obligation, there is always a corresponding right).
Contracting parties must have legal capacity in entering a contract (if below years old, an immediate relative will sign the contract).
Parties must be of sound mind.
Parties must not in any way be forced into the contract.
Parties involved must consent to the contract.
Breach of Contract:
Where a contract exists and either party violates its terms.
Prevention of performance.
Failure to perform because of inconvenience or difficulty.
Abandonment of duty.
Lucid Interval:
The person is in sound mind.
During a lucid interval, the consent given is valid.
NLRC: National Labor Relations Commission.
Classifications of Defective Contracts:
Voidable / Annullable Contract: Those where the consent of one party is defective either because of incapacity to give consent or where the consent is vitiated by mistake, violence, intimidation, undue influence, or fraud.
Void / Inexistent Contract:
Void ab initio.
Those which produce no legal effect for they do not exist in the eyes of the law.
Not subject to ratification.
It is valid until there is a judicial declaration.
Unenforceable Contract: Those which cannot be enforced in court because of the existence of the following reasons:
They were entered into on behalf of another without authority or in excess of authority.
There is non-compliance with the statute of frauds.
Both contracting parties are incapacitated.
Rescissible Contract: Those validly entered into by the contracting parties, but for having caused economic damage or lesion to one party or to a third party, or for having been entered into in fraud of creditors, or without knowledge and approval of judicial authority.
Legal System, Sources, and Legal Aspects
Law:
Rule of conduct pronounced by a controlling authority which may be enforced.
A rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.
Sources of Law:
Constitution: Presidential decree, Republic Act.
Legislature: Congress.
Judiciary: Department of Justice, Supreme Court, Court of Appeals.
Administrative: Executive power of the President.
Legal Aspects:
Civil Law:
Evidence is needed.
Must pay for damages.
Requires preponderance of evidence.
Criminal Law:
Requires proof beyond reasonable doubt.
Must be watchful.
Always in favor of the accused.
Civilly liable (should pay for damages).
Administrative Law: Ground for revocation of license.
Legal and Medical Jurisprudence Terminologies
Obligation: Act of binding oneself to do something.
Jurisprudence: Philosophy or science of law.
Public Law: Law in which the government is directly involved; regulates the relationship between individual and government.
Private Law: Regulates the relationship among people (e.g., relating contracts, ownership of properties, and practice of Radiologic Technology).
Constitutional Law: States the principles and provisions for establishment of specific laws.
Legislature: Responsible for enacting laws; Congress body.
Statutory Law: Law enacted by the legislature.
Judiciary System: Responsible for reconciling controversies and conflicts.
Common Law: Body of law and accumulated decisions.
Administrative Law: Made by the executive branch/law of government.
Good Samaritan Law: Law that holds physicians and radiologic technologists harmless when rendering aid to a person in an emergency situation.
Narcotic Law: Law with its primary purpose to control and suppress the illegal use and distribution of narcotics.
Will: A legal declaration of a person's intention upon death.
Testator: One who makes the will.
Lawsuit: Legal action in a court of law; proceeding in court for the purpose of enforcing a right or redressing a wrong.
Litigation: Process of the lawsuit.
Plaintiff: Person or government bringing a lawsuit against another.
Defendant: Person being accused of a tort or crime.
Euthanasia: Mercy killing; act of painlessly putting to death a person who is suffering from an incurable or distressing disease; carries a criminal charge of homicide.
Mala in Se: Act is wrongful from the very beginning.
Mala Prohibita: There is a law that prohibits the act.
Legal Right: A claim which can be enforced by legal means against a person whose duty is to respect it.
Civil Case: Involves complainant or defendant.
Criminal Case: Involves plaintiff or accused.
Due Process: A fair and orderly process which aims to protect and enforce a person's rights.
Trial: Facts are presented and determined.
Summons: A writ commanding an authorized person to notify a party to appear in court to answer a complaint made against him.
Subpoena: An order that requires a person to attend at a specific time and place to testify as a witness.
Subpoena Duces Tecum: A subpoena that requires a witness to bring documents or papers in his possession.
Hearsay Evidence: Rumors not admissible as evidence.
Perjury: The willful telling of a lie under oath.
Dying Declaration: Considered hearsay unless the dying person is a victim of a crime.
Holographic Will: A will which is written, dated, and signed by the hand of the testator himself.
Breach of Contract: The failure, without legal cause, to perform any promise which forms the whole part or parts of a contract.
Cause: A ground of legal action.
Consent: Approval, permission, or agreement.
Consideration: The price, motive, or matter of inducement of a contract; refers to a fee, salary, or reward.
Abortion: The expulsion of the product of conception before the fetus is viable.
Bill of Rights:
Freedom of worship.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom to vote.
Torts, Crimes, and Legal Doctrines
Torts and Crimes Definitions:
Torts: A wrong committed by a person against another person or his property; private or civil wrong/injury (including action for bad faith, breach of contract) for which the court will provide remedy in the form of an action for damages; failure to comply with or perform a duty that leads to harm of another person.
Crime: An offense against persons or property, or against the public.
Negligence: Failure of a professional person to act at all times within accepted standards of a profession; refers to the commission or omission of an act pursuant to a duty, that a reasonably prudent person in the same or similar circumstances would or would not do, where acting or non-acting is the proximate cause of injury to another person or property.
Malpractice: Act of negligence or acting beyond radiologic technology standards; implies improper or unskilled care of a patient by a radiologic technologist; denotes stepping beyond one's authority with serious consequences.
Slander: Untruthful oral statement about a person that subjects him to ridicule; oral defamation.
Libel: Untruthful written statement about a person that subjects him to ridicule; requires a second person to hear or read the comment; written or printed defamation.
Invasion of Privacy: A wrong that involves the right of a person to be let alone; unwarranted exposure to public view; right to live one's life without having name, picture, or private affairs made public against one's will.
Assault: A threat or an attempt to make bodily contact with another person without that person's consent; imminent threat of harmful/offensive bodily contact; intimidation of the patient.
Battery: An assault that is carried out; immediate unconsented touching of another person/patient.
Fraud: Willful and purposeful misconduct that could or has caused loss or harm to person or property; false representation of some fact with the intention that it will be acted upon by another person.
Criminal Acts Classifications:
Felony: A crime punishable by imprisonment in a state or punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
Misdemeanor: Crime with a lesser offense; punishable with fines and/or imprisonment for less than a year; general name for a criminal offense not amounting to a felony.
Degree Murder: Illegally killing another person with motive.
Degree Murder: Killing another person without previous deliberation.
Legal Definitions and Concepts:
Felonies: Acts or omissions punishable by law, committed not only by means of deceit but also by fault.
Deceit: Fraudulent withholding or misrepresenting of facts whereby a person is misled to his injury.
Decedent: A person whose property is transmitted through succession, whether or not he left a will.
Due Process of Law: Fair and orderly legal proceedings which observe fundamental rules designed for the protection and enforcement of individual rights and liberties.
Undue Influence: Influence used directly to procure the will, amounting to coercion destroying the free action of the testator.
Criminal Intent: The intention to commit a crime.
Consideration: One element of a contract to make a promise binding and to make an agreement which creates an obligation; an agreement upon sufficient consideration to do or not to do a particular thing.
Legal Doctrines:
Doctrine of Force Majeure: Act of God; an irresistible force, unforeseen or inevitable. Under the Civil Code of the Philippines, no person shall be responsible for events which could not be foreseen or were inevitable, except in cases expressly specified by law (examples: flood, earthquake, fire, accident).
Doctrine of Respondent Superior: "Let the master answer"; master-servant rule; let the master answer for the acts of the subordinate. Liability expands to include liability from employee to master; employers are responsible for actions of employees performed within the course of employment.
Doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitur: "The thing speaks for itself"; defendant is presumed negligent where the instrumentality causing injury was in the defendant's control and the accident ordinarily does not happen in the absence of negligence.
Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat / Ignorancia Legis Non: Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
Dura Lex Sed Lex: The law may be harsh, but it is still the law.
Legal Maxim: Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege (No crime if there is no law punishing it).
Incompetence: Lack of ability, legal qualification, or fitness to discharge the required duty; ground for revocation or suspension of certificate of registration.
Classification of Torts:
Intentional Torts:
Assault: Imminent threat of harmful/offensive bodily contact; intimidation.
Battery: Immediate unconsented touching.
False Imprisonment / Illegal Detention (Private): Unjustifiable detention without legal warrant within boundaries fixed by defendant.
Arbitrary Detention (Public): Detention committed by public officers.
Defamation: Character assassination (libel or slander); dishonor to character.
Invasion of Privacy: Right to be left alone.
Unintentional Torts:
Professional Negligence: Commission or omission of an act pursuant to duty that a reasonably prudent person would or would not do, proximately causing injury (examples: mistaken identity; defects in equipment such as stretchers and wheelchairs leading to falls).
Malpractice: Negligent act committed in a professional capacity; unreasonable lack of professional skill.
Incompetence: Lack of ability.
Elements of Professional Negligence:
Existence of a duty on the part of the person.
Failure to meet the standard of due care.
Foreseeability of harm resulting from failure to meet the standard.
Causes of Negligence:
Carelessness.
Ignorance.
Lack of skills.
Four Elements of Negligence ( D's):
Duty: To use due care; care which should be given under circumstances.
Dereliction: Failure to use due care; failure to ask (e.g., allergies).
Direct Causation: Failure to use due care causes injury; failure to review previous experience, drugs, and reaction.
Damage or Injury: Actual harm results.
Crimes, Degrees, Circumstances, and Penalties
Specific Crimes:
Larceny: Taking property of another for permanent use.
Abortion: Illegal destruction and bringing forth prematurely of the human fetus before natural time of birth.
Stages of Crimes:
Consummated: All elements executed with successful result.
Frustrated: All elements executed without successful result.
Attempted: Not all elements executed, no successful result.
Degrees of Crimes:
Grave: Capital punishment or penalty of above years and day, or fine of more than .
Less Grave: Penalty of month and day to years, or fine of not more than but not less than .
Light: Penalty of day to days, or fine not exceeding P200.00$.\n* **Crimes Against Honor:**\n * **Defamation:** Injury to honor and reputation of another.\n * **Slander:** Oral defamation.\n * **Libel:** Written/printed defamation.\n * **Slander by Deed:** An act causing dishonor to another.\n* **Conspiracy:**\n * Joint agreement of two or more persons; the act of one is the act of all.\n * **Persons Involved in a Conspiracy:**\n 1. **Principals:** Chief actor/mastermind; those who actually perform the act; present and aiding; direct participation, induction, and indispensable.\n 2. **Accessories:** Assist or participate in commission; assist or encourage principal offender with intent to have crime committed.\n 3. **Accomplices:** Do not take direct part, induce, or cooperate through an essential act; guilty of complicity by being present/abetting; absent in place when committed (example: lookout).\n* **Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security:**\n 1. **Kidnapping:** Forcible abduction of another.\n 2. **Illegal Detention:** Detaining a person without a warrant.\n 3. **Trespassing:** Entering another's house or property without a warrant.\n* **Crimes Against Public Morals:**\n 1. **Illegal Gambling:** Playing for money.\n 2. **Indecent Exposure:** Intentional exposure of private parts in public.\n 3. **Prostitution:** Crime committed by a woman to engage in sexual intercourse for pay.\n* **Circumstances Affecting Criminal Liabilities:**\n 1. **Justifying Circumstances:** Law justifies a person from criminal liability.\n * Examples: Self-defense, defense of property, defense of another (requires: unlawful aggression, reasonable necessity, lack of sufficient provocation); fulfillment of lawful duty; obedience to lawful order (order must be lawful, superior acting within scope of practice).\n 2. **Exempting Circumstances:** Law exempts person from criminal liability.\n * Examples: Offender is insane or imbecile; offender is less than 9 years old (under R.A. 9344 Juvenile Justice Act); failed to perform act required by law due to lawful causes; lawful act causes injury by mere accident; under compulsion of uncontrollable force; under impulse of uncontrollable fear.\n 3. **Mitigating Circumstances:** Reduce degree of normal culpability in fairness and mercy.\n * Examples: No intention to commit injury; offender is under 1870 years old; provoked or threatened by offended party; voluntarily surrendered; suffering from physical defect.\n 4. **Aggravating Circumstances:** Increase criminal liability or make guilt more severe.\n * Examples: Advantage taken of public office/abuse of power; committed in contempt; treachery/superior strength; price, reward, promise; use of fire, poison, explosion; calamities; craft/fraud; disguise; evident premeditation; cruelty.\n 5. **Alternative Circumstances:** May increase or decrease liability depending on nature/effects.\n * Relationship: Exemption from criminal liability while retaining civil liability.\n* **Crimes Against Persons:**\n 1. **Murder:** Unlawful killing of a human being with intent to kill.\n 2. **Homicide:** Killing of a human being by another (other than father, mother, or child).\n 3. **Parricide:** Killing a parent.\n 4. **Patricide:** Killing a father.\n 5. **Matricide:** Killing a mother.\n 6. **Infanticide:** Killing of a child less than 3 days of age.\n* **Crimes Against Property:**\n 1. **Robbery:** Unlawful taking of another's property with forceful entry.\n 2. **Arson:** Intentional burning of another's house.\n 3. **Sabotage:** Intentional damage to property of employer by employee.\n 4. **Theft:** Unlawful taking without forcible entry.\n* **Crimes Against Chastity:**\n 1. **Rape:** Forcible sexual intercourse with a woman without consent.\n 2. **Adultery:** Sexual intercourse of a married woman with a man other than her husband.\n 3. **Concubinage:** Cohabitation of a married man with a woman other than his wife.\n* **Crimes Against Civil Status of Persons:**\n 1. **Simulation of Birth:** Entering a birth that did not occur in a birth certificate.\n 2. **Substitution of One Child to Another:** Replacing one child with another.\n 3. **Bigamy:** Contracting a second marriage when legally married to another.\n* **Crimes Against Public Interest:**\n 1. **Forgery:** Altering written documents for deceit.\n 2. **Perjury:** Telling a lie under oath.\n* **Crimes Connected with Public Office:**\n 1. **Graft:** Dishonest transaction in public office.\n 2. **Bribery:** Receiving money or gifts in connection with official duties.\n 3. **Corruption:** Giving money or gifts in connection with official duties.\n* **Revised Penal Code Details:**\n * Criminal Law Felonies/Delitos: Acts or omissions punishable by the Revised Penal Code (January 1, 1932); involves overt act or omission in action.\n * R.A. 7431 (Enacted in 1992): Violation of this act is not considered a felony.\n* **Classifications of Felonies According to Means:**\n 1. **Intentional Felonies:** Committed by means of deceit (Dolo/Malice).\n 2. **Culpable Felonies:** Committed by fault (Culpa), negligence, imprudence, or lack of foresight/skill.\n * **Requisites of Dolo:** Freedom, Intelligence, Intent.\n * **Requisites of Culpa:** Freedom, Intelligence, Imprudence/Negligence/Lack of foresight or skill.\n* **Kinds of Felonies According to Degree and Attainment of Objectives:**\n 1. **Attempted Felony:** Offender commences criminal act, but criminal objective is not achieved.\n 2. **Frustrated Felony:** Offender performs all acts necessary for commission, but objective is not achieved.\n 3. **Consummated Felony:** Offender performs all acts necessary, and objective is achieved.\n* **Penalties for Crimes:**\n 1. **Arresto Menor:** Imprisonment from 130 days.\n 2. **Arresto Mayor:** Imprisonment from 116 months.\n 3. **Prision Correctional:** Imprisonment from 616 years.\n 4. **Prision Mayor:** Imprisonment from 6110 years.\n 5. **Reclusion Temporal:** Imprisonment from 12120 years.\n 6. **Reclusion Perpetua:** Life imprisonment; no bail.\n 7. **Death Penalty.**\n* **Classification of Felonies According to Degree of Punishment:**\n 1. **Grave Felony:** Imprisonment from 61P6,000.00$.
Less Grave Felony: Imprisonment from month and day to years; fine of to P6,000.00$.\n 3. **Light Felony:** Imprisonment from 130P200.00$.
Article 4: Revised Penal Code Criminal Liability:
Incurred by any person committing a felony although the wrongful act done be different from that intended.
Doctrine: "El que es causa de la causa es causa del mal causado" ("He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of the evil caused").
Incurred by any person performing an act which would be an offense against persons or property, were it not for inherent impossibility of accomplishment or employment of inadequate/ineffectual means.
Medical Ethics and Radiologic Technology Code of Ethics
Ethics: A system of moral rules and principles that becomes the standard.
Ethical Principles:
Autonomy: Person's right to make one's decision.
Respect for Others: Acknowledge the right of individuals to make decisions and live by others.
Beneficence: Act of mercy and charity.
Fidelity: Being faithful; involves keeping promises and agreements.
Veracity: Being honest; people should always say the complete truth.
Non-Maleficence: Believing that a medical professional should cause no harm.
Justice: Equal rights.
Patient Rights and Consent:
Every person/parent must be treated with dignity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Patient Consent: May be verbal, written, or implied.
Requisites of Valid Patient Consent:
Patient must be of sound mind and legal age.
Patient must give consent freely.
Patient must be adequately informed about the procedure.
Radiologic Technology Code of Ethics:
Date of Promulgation: May 28, 1993.
Author of Radtech Creed: Atty. Oscar Romero.
Articles:
Article 1: Relation with the State & Society.
Article 2: Relation with the Patient/Clients.
Article 3: Relation with the Other Allied Professionals.
Article 4: Relation to Agency.
Article 5: Relation to Oneself.
Republic Act No. 7431 and Board Regulations
Republic Act No. 7431 (R.A. 7431):
Title: Radiologic Technology Act of 1992.
Dates: February 27, 1992 / April 22, 1992.
Scope: Regulating the practice of RT in the Philippines, creating the Board of RT, defining its powers and functions.
Section Breakdown:
Section 1: Title.
Section 2: Statement of Policy.
Section 3: Definition of Terms.
Section 4: Practice of X-ray Technology.
Section 5: Practice of Radiologic Technology.
Section 6: Creation of the Board of Radiologic Technology ( members, chairman; appointed by the President).
Section 7: Qualification of Board Members (Citizen and resident of Philippines; good moral character; at least years of age; neither a faculty member).
Section 8: Term of Office (Chairman: years; Members: years; Other members: year; Wilhelmina Gana - Incumbent Chairman of the Board).
Section 9: Duties & Functions of the Board (Issues Subpoena duces tecum for certain documents; Subpoena ad testificandum for ordinary witnesses/documents).
Section 10: Compensation of the Board.
Section 11: Removal of the Board.
Section 12: Supervision of the Board & Custody.
Section 13: Rules and Regulation.
Section 14: Annual Report.
Section 15: Requirement for the Practice of RT & XT (Certificate of Registration from the Board).
Section 16: Exemption from Examination in XT.
Section 17: Exemption from Examination in RT.
Section 18: Examination Requirements.
Section 19: Qualification for the Examination (Filipino citizen; good moral character; not convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude; holder of baccalaureate degree in RT).
Section 20: Scope of Examination in XT.
Section 21: Scope of Examination in RT.
Section 22: Report of Ratings.
Section 23: Oath Taking.
Section 24: Issuance of Certificate of Registration.
Section 25: Fees.
Section 26: Penal Provisions.
Section 27: Appropriations.
Section 28: Repealing Clause.
Section 29: (Missing).
Section 30: Effectivity Clause (February 27, 1992 / April 22, 1992).
Presidential Decree 223 (PD 223): Creates professionals by the PRC.
Key Government Figures and Officials at Signing:
Corazon Aquino: President.
Ramon Mitra: Speaker of the House.
Neptali Gonzales: Senate President.
Catailo L. Sabio: Secretary General of House of Representatives.
Analecto D. Badoy Jr.: Secretary of the Senate.
Hermogenes Pobre: Commissioner/Chairman when R.A. 7431 was signed into law.
Norberto Palomo: Father of Radtech Education.
Gilberto Palomique: First President of PART.
First Board of Radiologic Technology (Appointed in 1993):
Fortunato C. Gabon (001): Chairman, Radiologic Technologist.
Dexter Rodelas (002): Radiologic Technologist.
Editha C. Mora (003): Radiologic Technologist.
Jose T. Gaffud: Radiologist.
Eulinia M. Valdezio: Physicist.
Computerized Licensure Examination:
Conducted on December 27, 1993; results released April 9, 1994.
Board Resolutions:
Resolution #1 (May 12, 1993): Adaptation of seal/logo for Board of RT.
Resolution #2 (May 12, 1993): Registration as RT of members of the Board.
Resolution #3 (May 12, 1993): Reschedule of XT & RT Licensure Examinations from December 1993 to June 26 & 27, 1993 (First Exam).
Resolution #4 (May 28, 1993): Promulgation of the Code of Professional Ethics for XT & RT.
Motto: "BOARD EXAM is a matter of PREPARATION. If you FAIL to prepare, you PREPARE to fail" (04/10/14).