Chapter 3
Drugs or other substances whose manufacture, possession, prescribing, and distribution are regulated by law, commonly because of their potential for misuse or dependence.
Controlled substances
Defamation expressed in written, printed, or other recorded form.
Libel
Communicating a false statement of fact to another person that harms someone’s reputation; it includes libel and slander.
Defamation
Principles and systematic reasoning used to determine what is right, wrong, and responsible conduct.
Ethics
The branch of law governing legally enforceable agreements and the obligations created by them.
Contract law
Defamation expressed through spoken words.
Slander
A person’s voluntary agreement to treatment after receiving and understanding information about its purpose, risks, benefits, and alternatives, including declining treatment.
Informed consent
In mental health care, comparable insurance treatment of mental health and substance use disorder benefits and medical or surgical benefits, including financial requirements and treatment limits.
Parity
The branch of civil law addressing wrongful acts or omissions that harm others and may create liability for compensation.
Tort law
Crimes generally less serious than felonies, often punishable by fines or imprisonment of up to one year; classifications vary by jurisdiction.
Misdemeanors
Intentionally confining or restraining a person without consent or lawful authority.
False imprisonment
Intentional harmful or offensive physical contact without consent or other lawful justification, such as performing an unauthorized procedure.
Battery
Professional negligence: failure to meet the applicable professional standard of care that causes injury.
Malpractice
The branch of law dealing with noncriminal rights, responsibilities, and disputes between people or organizations.
Civil law
Leaving a health care setting without authorization when the person’s departure creates a safety concern or violates an applicable restriction.
Elopement
The right and ability to make one’s own informed choices, including decisions about health care.
Autonomy
Situations in which important ethical principles or duties conflict, making it difficult to choose a course of action.
Ethical dilemmas
An idea or statement a person accepts as true.
Belief
Established expectations for competent, safe, and appropriate professional care.
Standards of practice
Learned feelings and tendencies that influence how a person responds to people, ideas, or situations.
Attitudes
A legal obligation, under certain circumstances, to warn a threatened person or others about a patient’s serious threat of violence. Requirements and related duties to protect vary by jurisdiction.
Duty to warn
Personal or shared beliefs about right and wrong behavior.
Morals
Intentional deception used to obtain an improper benefit or cause another person a loss.
Fraud
Keeping promises and honoring professional commitments and responsibilities.
Fidelity
The ethical duty to tell the truth and communicate honestly.
Veracity
The branch of law defining offenses prosecuted by the government and the penalties for those offenses.
Criminal law
The duty to protect private information and disclose it only with appropriate authorization or a permitted or required legal basis.
Confidentiality
An intentional act that causes someone to reasonably anticipate immediate harmful or offensive contact; physical contact is not required in the traditional civil-law definition.
Assault
An American Hospital Association brochure explaining what patients should expect during a hospital stay and their rights and responsibilities.
The Patient Care Partnership: Understanding Expectations, Rights, and Responsibilities
Serious crimes generally punishable by more than one year of imprisonment; classifications vary by jurisdiction.
Felonies
Failure to use the care reasonably expected under the circumstances; liability generally requires that this failure caused harm.
Negligence
The ethical duty to avoid causing harm.
Nonmaleficence
Laws regulating professional practice, including nursing licensure, permitted scope of practice, and grounds for disciplinary action.
Professional (nurse) practice acts
Written principles that guide the conduct, responsibilities, and ethical decisions of members of a profession.
Codes of ethics
A hypothetical, appropriately qualified provider who uses the knowledge, skill, judgment, and caution expected in similar circumstances.
Reasonable and prudent care provider
Rules established and enforced by governmental authority to regulate conduct and protect rights.
Laws
A justified entitlement or protected freedom recognized by law, ethics, or both.
Right
Admission for psychiatric evaluation or treatment without the person’s consent under legally established criteria and procedures.
Involuntary admission
A principle, ideal, or quality a person considers important and uses to guide choices and behavior.
Value
An unjustified intrusion into a person’s private life or improper use or disclosure of private information.
Invasion of privacy
The ethical duty to do good and promote another person’s well-being.
Beneficence
Examining one’s beliefs and priorities to understand personal values and how they influence decisions.
Values clarification