CHAP CHAP Healthcare Ethics & Legal Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does 'negligence' mean in the context of healthcare malpractice?
- A provider's intentional harm to a patient
- Failure to meet the standard of care that a reasonably competent provider would provide, resulting in harm (Correct answer)
- Any adverse outcome following treatment
- Unauthorized disclosure of patient information
Correct answer: Failure to meet the standard of care that a reasonably competent provider would provide, resulting in harm
Negligence in healthcare occurs when a provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure directly causes harm to the patient.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a healthcare organization's ethics committee?
- To discipline unethical staff behavior
- To provide consultation and policy guidance on complex ethical issues in patient care (Correct answer)
- To review billing practices for ethical compliance
- To set organizational policies on staff compensation
Correct answer: To provide consultation and policy guidance on complex ethical issues in patient care
Ethics committees provide consultation, education, and policy development to help clinicians, patients, and families navigate complex ethical dilemmas in patient care.
Question 3: Which principle of healthcare ethics means 'do no harm'?
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Autonomy
- Nonmaleficence (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Nonmaleficence
Nonmaleficence is the ethical obligation to avoid causing harm to patients, often expressed as the Hippocratic principle 'primum non nocere' (first, do no harm).
Question 4: What is a 'living will' in healthcare?
- A legal document that updates a patient's will after hospitalization
- An advance directive specifying a patient's wishes regarding medical treatment if they become incapacitated (Correct answer)
- A financial plan for healthcare expenses
- A document granting providers authority to make all medical decisions
Correct answer: An advance directive specifying a patient's wishes regarding medical treatment if they become incapacitated
A living will is an advance directive that documents a person's wishes about specific medical treatments (such as life support) if they become unable to communicate those decisions.
Question 5: Under the False Claims Act, what are healthcare organizations prohibited from doing?
- Submitting incorrect clinical documentation
- Knowingly submitting false or fraudulent claims for payment to federal healthcare programs (Correct answer)
- Refusing to treat Medicare patients
- Changing billing codes after services are rendered
Correct answer: Knowingly submitting false or fraudulent claims for payment to federal healthcare programs
The False Claims Act prohibits knowingly submitting false, fraudulent, or inflated claims for payment to federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Question 6: What does 'respondeat superior' mean in healthcare liability?
- Patients must respond to all medical recommendations
- Employers are legally responsible for negligent acts of employees performed within the scope of their employment (Correct answer)
- Physicians are superior to other healthcare providers in legal proceedings
- Supervisors must respond to all staff complaints
Correct answer: Employers are legally responsible for negligent acts of employees performed within the scope of their employment
Respondeat superior ('let the master answer') is a legal doctrine holding employers vicariously liable for the negligent acts of their employees committed within the scope of employment.
CHAP CHAP Healthcare Ethics & Legal Standards 2
What does 'negligence' mean in the context of healthcare malpractice?