Medical-Legal and Ethical Issues Flashcards
7 cards from real CCHP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Medical-Legal and Ethical Issues flashcards as text
A newly incarcerated patient discloses a history of suicidal ideation during intake screening. What is the legally and ethically required next step?
Answer: Document the disclosure and conduct or arrange an immediate mental health evaluation
Disclosed suicidal ideation at intake requires prompt mental health evaluation to assess current risk and safety planning.
Which legal case established that deliberate indifference to a serious medical need violates an inmate's Eighth Amendment rights?
Answer: Estelle v. Gamble
Estelle v. Gamble (1976) is the landmark Supreme Court case establishing Eighth Amendment protection for inmates' serious medical needs.
A correctional health staff member wants to conduct a research study using inmate participants. What is the MOST critical ethical safeguard required?
Answer: Voluntary, informed consent free from coercion given the inherently coercive setting
Federal regulations (45 CFR 46) classify prisoners as a vulnerable population requiring heightened protections including truly voluntary informed consent.
The dual loyalty conflict in correctional health care refers to:
Answer: Tension between obligation to individual patient welfare and institutional security demands
Dual loyalty describes the ethical tension between a clinician's duty to the patient and obligations or pressures from the employing correctional institution.
An inmate is transferred to an outside hospital emergency department. Who is responsible for ensuring continuity of care and transfer of medical records?
Answer: The sending correctional health facility
The sending correctional facility is responsible for providing pertinent medical information to ensure continuity of care at the receiving facility.
A patient with decisional capacity refuses a blood transfusion on religious grounds despite a life-threatening hemorrhage. The ethically correct response is to:
Answer: Respect the refusal, document thoroughly, and provide all other appropriate care
A competent adult's informed refusal of treatment must be respected even when life-threatening, regardless of the provider's personal or religious views.
Which principle guides the concept that correctional patients should receive care equivalent to community standards, not superior or inferior?
Answer: Equivalence of care
The equivalence of care principle holds that incarcerated individuals are entitled to the same standard of health care available to the general public.