CHT Medical Ethics & Patient Rights 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient refuses a recommended hyperbaric oxygen treatment session. What is the technician's primary ethical obligation?
- Administer the treatment anyway to protect the patient's health
- Document the refusal and notify the supervising physician (Correct answer)
- Discharge the patient immediately from the program
- Convince the patient by overstating treatment risks of refusal
Correct answer: Document the refusal and notify the supervising physician
Documenting the refusal and notifying the physician respects patient autonomy while ensuring proper medical oversight and legal protection.
Question 2: Under HIPAA, which of the following is an example of a permissible disclosure of patient information without written authorization?
- Sharing treatment details with the patient's employer
- Disclosing information to a family member who calls by phone
- Reporting a communicable disease to public health authorities (Correct answer)
- Posting de-identified photos on social media for education
Correct answer: Reporting a communicable disease to public health authorities
HIPAA permits disclosure to public health authorities for disease reporting without patient authorization as a required public health activity.
Question 3: A hyperbaric technician observes a colleague falsifying a patient's treatment log. What is the most appropriate first action?
- Ignore it to avoid workplace conflict
- Correct the log yourself without telling anyone
- Report the falsification to the supervisor or compliance officer (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague aggressively in front of patients
Correct answer: Report the falsification to the supervisor or compliance officer
Falsifying medical records is fraudulent and endangers patient safety; reporting it through proper channels is the technician's ethical duty.
Question 4: Which ethical principle is MOST directly violated when a hyperbaric technician performs a procedure beyond their scope of practice?
- Justice
- Autonomy
- Non-maleficence (Correct answer)
- Veracity
Correct answer: Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence ('do no harm') is violated when a technician performs procedures they are not trained or authorized to perform, risking patient injury.
Question 5: A competent adult patient with a pressure wound requests information about all available treatment alternatives, not just HBO therapy. This request reflects which patient right?
- Right to emergency care
- Right to informed consent and treatment alternatives (Correct answer)
- Right to select their own technician
- Right to waive all liability
Correct answer: Right to informed consent and treatment alternatives
Patients have the right to be informed of all treatment alternatives as part of the informed consent process, enabling autonomous decision-making.
Question 6: When obtaining informed consent for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which element is ESSENTIAL to include?
- The technician's personal opinion of the treatment
- Potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to the treatment (Correct answer)
- Details of the facility's billing practices
- Names of other patients who have undergone the treatment
Correct answer: Potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to the treatment
Valid informed consent must include the risks, benefits, and alternatives so the patient can make a voluntary, educated decision.
Question 7: A patient's legal guardian provides consent for hyperbaric treatment, but the patient (a competent adult) objects. How should this situation be handled?
- Follow the guardian's consent since it is legally binding
- Proceed with treatment if the guardian insists
- Halt the treatment and consult the physician and ethics team (Correct answer)
- Override the patient's objection if family members agree
Correct answer: Halt the treatment and consult the physician and ethics team
A competent adult's refusal supersedes a guardian's consent; the clinical and ethics team must evaluate decision-making capacity and patient rights.
CHT Medical Ethics & Patient Rights 2
A patient refuses a recommended hyperbaric oxygen treatment session.
What is the technician's primary ethical obligation?