Legal and Ethical Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real LVN practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Legal and Ethical Practice flashcards as text
A nurse makes a medication error that did not harm the patient. What is the correct course of action?
Answer: Complete an incident report and notify the supervising nurse and physician
All medication errors must be reported and documented via incident report regardless of patient outcome; this supports safety improvement and legal accountability.
Which of the following is an example of an intentional tort in nursing?
Answer: Restraining a patient without consent or legal authority
False imprisonment is an intentional tort; applying restraints without consent or proper legal justification constitutes this violation.
Under the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA), healthcare facilities must:
Answer: Inform patients of their right to make decisions about their care, including advance directives
The PSDA requires facilities to inform patients of their rights to make healthcare decisions and execute advance directives, but cannot mandate participation.
Which statement about a living will is correct?
Answer: It becomes effective only after a physician deems the patient terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state
A living will is an advance directive that typically becomes operative when a patient is terminally ill, in a persistent vegetative state, or otherwise unable to communicate their wishes.
A patient tells the LVN they plan to harm a specific person after discharge. The LVN's legal and ethical obligation includes:
Answer: Reporting the threat to the supervisor and potentially the intended victim and law enforcement
The Tarasoff duty-to-warn principle obligates healthcare providers to break confidentiality to protect an identifiable, endangered third party.
Which element is NOT required to prove nursing malpractice?
Answer: Intent to harm the patient
Malpractice (professional negligence) requires duty, breach, causation, and damages — intent to harm is not required and is associated with intentional torts, not negligence.
A patient's advance directive states 'no artificial nutrition.' The family insists on a feeding tube. The LVN should:
Answer: Follow the advance directive and report the conflict to the supervising nurse and physician
A valid advance directive represents the patient's autonomous wishes and legally supersedes family preferences; conflicts must be escalated through the care team.