SLP Ethics & Professional Practice Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no designated healthcare proxy. Who typically serves as the surrogate decision-maker for treatment consent?
- The treating SLP
- The patient's closest available family member per state law (Correct answer)
- The facility administrator
- The patient's primary insurance carrier
Correct answer: The patient's closest available family member per state law
When a patient lacks capacity and has no proxy, state law typically designates a hierarchy of family members to serve as surrogate decision-makers.
Question 2: The principle of nonmaleficence in SLP practice means:
- Maximizing clinical benefits for every patient
- Distributing services equitably across populations
- Avoiding actions that cause unnecessary harm to patients (Correct answer)
- Respecting patient autonomy in all treatment decisions
Correct answer: Avoiding actions that cause unnecessary harm to patients
Nonmaleficence is the ethical duty to avoid causing unnecessary harm, a core principle guiding clinical decision-making.
Question 3: An SLP who serves on an expert witness panel must ensure their testimony is:
- Favorable to the party that retained them
- Objective, accurate, and within their scope of expertise (Correct answer)
- Withheld if it conflicts with the employer's interests
- Limited to opinions that will not be challenged by opposing counsel
Correct answer: Objective, accurate, and within their scope of expertise
Expert witnesses must provide objective, truthful testimony based on their professional expertise, regardless of who retained them.
Question 4: Cultural competence in SLP ethical practice requires the clinician to:
- Apply a standardized protocol uniformly to all patients
- Recognize and integrate clients' cultural and linguistic backgrounds into care (Correct answer)
- Refer all patients from minority backgrounds to specialists
- Avoid discussing cultural topics to prevent misunderstandings
Correct answer: Recognize and integrate clients' cultural and linguistic backgrounds into care
ASHA's ethics standards require SLPs to incorporate cultural and linguistic considerations into assessment and treatment.
Question 5: An SLP wishes to use a new treatment technique not yet supported by strong evidence. The ethical approach is to:
- Use the technique freely as long as the patient consents
- Implement it only after informing the patient and documenting the evidence basis (Correct answer)
- Wait until the technique has Level I evidence before any use
- Avoid the technique entirely regardless of clinical rationale
Correct answer: Implement it only after informing the patient and documenting the evidence basis
SLPs may use emerging techniques when they obtain informed consent and transparently document the current evidence base and clinical rationale.
Question 6: Which ASHA ethical principle addresses the obligation to accurately represent one's credentials and competencies?
- Principle I — Welfare of those served
- Principle II — Competence
- Principle III — Public statements (Correct answer)
- Principle IV — Relationships with colleagues
Correct answer: Principle III — Public statements
Principle III of ASHA's Code of Ethics governs public statements, including the accurate representation of credentials and competencies.
Question 7: A former patient contacts their SLP on social media to share progress updates. The SLP's ethical response is to:
- Engage freely since the therapeutic relationship has ended
- Accept the connection and comment publicly on clinical progress
- Maintain professional boundaries and avoid clinical discussions on social platforms (Correct answer)
- Block the patient immediately without explanation
Correct answer: Maintain professional boundaries and avoid clinical discussions on social platforms
Professional boundary obligations and confidentiality concerns persist after treatment ends, requiring SLPs to avoid clinical discussions on social media.
SLP Ethics & Professional Practice Standards 3
A patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no designated healthcare proxy.
Who typically serves as the surrogate decision-maker for treatment consent?