EMD Legal and Liability Issues 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'respondeat superior' and how does it apply to EMD centers?
- A protocol requiring dispatchers to repeat caller information back
- A doctrine making employers liable for employees' actions within their scope of employment (Correct answer)
- A law requiring supervisors to monitor all calls
- A federal regulation governing dispatch certification
Correct answer: A doctrine making employers liable for employees' actions within their scope of employment
Respondeat superior holds the employer (dispatch center) vicariously liable for negligent acts committed by employees acting within their scope of employment.
Question 2: Which scenario represents a potential abandonment claim against an EMD?
- Transferring a caller to a nurse hotline after providing initial instructions
- Disconnecting a call after the caller hangs up
- Placing a caller on hold for 30 seconds during peak volume and never returning (Correct answer)
- Ending a call after confirming units are en route and caller is safe
Correct answer: Placing a caller on hold for 30 seconds during peak volume and never returning
Abandonment occurs when an EMD ends or suspends care obligations without ensuring patient safety or an appropriate handoff, such as leaving a caller on indefinite hold.
Question 3: A caller consents to receiving pre-arrival medical instructions over the phone. This represents which legal concept?
- Implied consent
- Expressed consent (Correct answer)
- Informed refusal
- Statutory authorization
Correct answer: Expressed consent
When a caller verbally agrees to receive instructions, this constitutes expressed consent, meaning the caller has directly stated their agreement.
Question 4: For an unconscious patient, an EMD providing instructions to bystanders to begin CPR is legally justified under which doctrine?
- Expressed consent
- Informed consent
- Implied consent (Correct answer)
- Substituted consent
Correct answer: Implied consent
Implied consent assumes that an unconscious or incapacitated patient would consent to life-saving treatment if they were able to do so.
Question 5: Which federal law most directly governs how EMD agencies handle confidential caller and patient information?
- EMTALA
- HIPAA (Correct answer)
- OSHA
- ADA
Correct answer: HIPAA
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) establishes national standards for protecting the privacy and security of protected health information.
Question 6: An EMD deviates from an approved protocol during a cardiac arrest call. The best immediate action by a QI supervisor is to:
- Delete the recording to avoid liability
- Conduct a call review and document the deviation for corrective action (Correct answer)
- Ignore it if the patient survived
- File a criminal complaint against the EMD
Correct answer: Conduct a call review and document the deviation for corrective action
Protocol deviations must be reviewed and documented through the quality improvement process to provide corrective education and prevent future liability.
Question 7: A dispatch center is served with a subpoena for a specific call recording. The EMD supervisor should:
- Erase the recording immediately to protect employee privacy
- Preserve the recording and consult legal counsel before releasing it (Correct answer)
- Release the recording only to the caller who made the request
- Destroy all recordings from that date
Correct answer: Preserve the recording and consult legal counsel before releasing it
A subpoena is a legal order, and the correct response is to preserve all relevant evidence and coordinate with legal counsel to respond appropriately.
EMD Legal and Liability Issues 3
What is 'respondeat superior' and how does it apply to EMD centers?