What every nurse should know

INTRODUCTION
Importance of Law to the Nurse
Nurses have more responsibility Increased numbers of Advanced Practice Nurses

Law is there to assist in the decision-making process involved in nursing practice

Law is there for the protection of nursing practice Law is there for the identification of the risk of liability

Sources of Law

Statutory law
Constitutional law Enacted law Regulatory law

Common law

Common usage Case law

Criminal law

Classifications of Law
Civil law
Legal disputes between private parties Torts Negligence Malpractice

Harm against society Offenses against the state Felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile Conviction requires proof beyond reasonable doubt

TORTS AND CRIMES

Tort Law is the enforcement of duties & rights among independent of contractual agreements. It is a civil wrong committed on a person or property stemming from either a direct invasion of some legal right of the person, infraction of some public duty, or the violation of some private obligation by which damages accrue to the person.

Examples of Tort Law include:

Negligence & Malpractice

Assault & Battery

False Imprisonment Restraints or Seclusion Invasion of Privacy Defamation

Fraud

Intentional Tort
Scenario An elderly resident in a long term care facility decides not to take an ordered antidepressant medication. The nurse believes that the resident needs the medication and dissolves it in juice, administering the medication without telling the resident.

Unintentional Tort-Negligence
Harm must have occurred

Negligent person had a duty to another

There was a breach of duty Harm was caused by the breach of duty

NEGLIGENCE AND MALPRACTISE

# Negligence is failure to use the care that a person would normally use # Malpractice is a failure in professionally duty, practice or skill that leads to injury or harm to the patient.

Common acts of negligence are:

Overlooked sponges Burns and falls Wrong medicine, wrong dose, wrong concentration, wrong patient. Defects in apparatus or supplies. Abandonment

Loss or damage of patients property.

INCIDENT REPORTS
Incident reports is to ensure that there is a record of details of the incident and subsequent action taken by legal proceedings.

GOOD SAMARITAN LAWS:

This law are intended to encourage qualified people to give aid in an emergency.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY:

Assault refers to attempts or threats to do bodily harm to another. Battery is unlawful beating of another.

INFORMED CONSENT:
The rights of the patient is right to consent to treatment.

INVASION OF PRIVACY:
In this every individual has the right to withhold both himself and his property from public scrutiny.

DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER:
It means that a persons reputation is damaged by written or spoken words that tend to lower his esteem in the eyes of the other people.

ABORTIONS:
Its premature termination of pregnancy it can occur spontaneously or it may be induced by medical or surgical means.

WIILS:
Will is declaration of an individual wishes regarding what is to be done with property after his death.

CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES LEGISLATION

Laws in which the nurse involved in the control and administration of narcotics and other potentially harmful drugs.

MALPRACTICE INSURANCE:
Due to increase in number of malpractice in general and against nurses, many authorities recommend that each nurse carry her own malpractice insurance to cover the cost of lawful fees;

Malpractice is one type of negligence, it is referred as professional negligence. Nursing malpractice results when nursing care falls below the standard of nursing care .

Nurses can be found liable for malpractice if the following criteria are established. The nurse(defendant)owed a duty to the client(plaintiff) Nurse did not carry out the duty. Client was injured Nurses failure to carry out the duty caused the injury.

References
JOURNALS
1 NT , 17 July 2007 , vol 103 no 29, pg 26-27 . 2 NT , 24 July 2007 , vol 103, no 30 , pg 24-25. 3 NT , 31 July 2007 , vol 103, no 31 , pg 26-27.

Databases Searched
1. CINAHL 2. Medline
3. WebSPIRS Includes Business, Health, Science, Human Resources,