Key Terms
What is the knowledge of right and wrong?
Ethics
What is a type of advance directive indicating that the patient does not wish a breathing tube to be inserted to prolong life?
Do not resuscitate (DNR)
What is a federal law that requires health information be kept private and secure and that organizations take special steps to protect this information?
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
What is a branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals?
Civil law
What is failure on the part of a provider to meet a professional standard of care; literal meaning is bad practice?
Malpractice
what is a rule established to help people live peacefully together and to ensure order and safety?
Law
What is a type of advance directive indicating that the patient does not wish cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to be performed in the event of cardiac or respiratory arrest?
Do not intubate (DNI):
What is a person’s private health information, which includes name, address, telephone number, social security number, email address, and medical record number.
Protected health information (PHI)
What is a patient’s record of following the healthcare treatment plan and keeping appointments?
Compliance
What is a law passed to protect individuals from liability when they provide medical aid, usually in an emergency situation?
Good Samaritan Law
What is a legal document that allows people to decide what kind of medical care they wish to have in the event they are unable to make those decisions themselves?
Advance directive
What is a type of advance directive designated a person other than the patient to make medical decisions if the person becomes ill or disabled?
Durable power of attorney for health care:
What is a federal law banning discrimination in employment and healthcare coverage based on genetic information?
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA):
What is failure of a practitioner to provide needed care to a patient with whom a patient-practitioner relationship has been established?
Abandonment
What are actions, or the failure to act or provide the proper care, resulting in unintended injury to a person?
Negligence
What is a federal law requiring that medical practices and facilities provide patients with information about advance directives?
Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA)
What is a medical order that specifies the treatments a person wishes to receive when he is very ill; decisions are based on conversations between the patient and his healthcare providers; may be known by different names in different states (e.g., Medical Orders for Life- Sustaining Treatment [MOLST]).
Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
What is an electronic version of a patient’s medical record that can be shared between healthcare organizations; includes information such as medical history, diagnoses, treatment plans, medications, immunization records, vital signs measurements, and imaging, test, and laboratory results?
Electronic health records (EHR)
What is the professional standard that must be met to deliver safe and effective patient care?
Standard of care
What is a purposeful mistreatment that causes physical, mental, or emotional pain or injury to someone?
Abuse
What is a document that outlines specific medical care a person wants or does not want to receive; also known as directive to physicians and health care directive?
Living will
The legal and ethical principle of keeping private information private.
Confidentiality
What is a branch of law dealing with offenses considered to harm all of society?
Criminal law
What is legally responsible?
Liable
What is a person who is legally required to report suspected or observed abuse or neglect because they have regular contact with vulnerable populations?
Mandated reporter