CHP Medical Ethics & Patient Rights 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient with dementia cannot provide informed consent for a procedure. Who is the most appropriate person to give consent on their behalf?
- The attending physician
- A legally authorized representative or healthcare proxy (Correct answer)
- Any adult family member present
- The hospital's ethics committee
Correct answer: A legally authorized representative or healthcare proxy
A legally authorized representative or healthcare proxy holds decision-making authority for patients who lack decision-making capacity.
Question 2: Under the ethical principle of justice, a hospital's policy on allocating scarce ICU beds should primarily be based on:
- Patient's ability to pay
- Fair and consistent clinical criteria applied equally to all patients (Correct answer)
- First-come, first-served regardless of medical need
- Physician preference for long-term patients
Correct answer: Fair and consistent clinical criteria applied equally to all patients
Justice requires equitable distribution of healthcare resources using transparent, clinically-based criteria.
Question 3: A patient asks a nurse not to tell their spouse about a terminal diagnosis. The nurse should:
- Inform the spouse anyway to prevent family distress
- Respect the patient's confidentiality and honor the request (Correct answer)
- Refer the decision to hospital administration
- Document the request and then disclose to the spouse
Correct answer: Respect the patient's confidentiality and honor the request
Patient confidentiality protects the right to control disclosure of personal health information, including to family members.
Question 4: Which ethical concept requires that healthcare providers tell patients the truth about their diagnosis and treatment options?
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Veracity (Correct answer)
- Fidelity
Correct answer: Veracity
Veracity is the ethical obligation to be truthful and honest with patients about their health status and care.
Question 5: A competent patient refuses a blood transfusion due to religious beliefs. The care team should:
- Administer the transfusion to preserve life
- Seek a court order to override the refusal
- Respect the refusal and document it thoroughly (Correct answer)
- Transfer the patient to another facility immediately
Correct answer: Respect the refusal and document it thoroughly
Competent patients have the right to refuse any treatment, including life-saving interventions, based on personal or religious beliefs.
Question 6: The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) requires healthcare organizations receiving Medicare/Medicaid funds to:
- Provide advance directive forms to all inpatients upon admission (Correct answer)
- Mandate that patients complete a living will before treatment
- Report all advance directives to the state health department
- Require a physician to co-sign every advance directive
Correct answer: Provide advance directive forms to all inpatients upon admission
The PSDA requires organizations to inform patients of their right to create advance directives and provide relevant forms upon admission.
Question 7: When a minor patient discloses information about self-harm to a provider, the provider's primary ethical obligation is to:
- Keep the information strictly confidential per HIPAA
- Balance confidentiality with the duty to protect the minor from harm (Correct answer)
- Immediately notify law enforcement without parental consent
- Document the disclosure and take no further action
Correct answer: Balance confidentiality with the duty to protect the minor from harm
Providers must balance minor patients' confidentiality with their duty to prevent serious harm, which may require parental notification or mandatory reporting.
CHP Medical Ethics & Patient Rights 2
A patient with dementia cannot provide informed consent for a procedure.
Who is the most appropriate person to give consent on their behalf?