TBI Legal & Ethical Considerations Flashcards

Which legal standard is used to determine whether a TBI patient should receive life-sustaining treatment when preferences are unknown?

Answer: Substituted judgment (what the patient would have wanted) or best interests standard

Surrogate decision-makers first apply substituted judgment (known values and wishes), and if unknown, fall back on the best interests standard.

Under the ADA, an employer is NOT required to provide a reasonable accommodation for a TBI employee in which circumstance?

Answer: When the accommodation creates an undue hardship (excessive cost or operational disruption) for the employer

The ADA's 'undue hardship' provision allows employers to decline accommodations that impose significant difficulty or expense, based on factors like employer size and financial resources.

What is 'malingering' in TBI legal evaluations, and which neuropsychological tools help detect it?

Answer: Deliberate exaggeration of symptoms for secondary gain; detected by symptom validity tests (SVTs) and performance validity tests (PVTs)

Malingering involves intentional symptom fabrication for financial or legal gain; SVTs and PVTs are embedded in neuropsychological batteries to detect invalid performance.

Workers' compensation claims for TBI require documentation of which essential element?

Answer: A causal connection between the workplace incident and the brain injury

Workers' compensation requires establishing that the TBI arose out of and in the course of employment — the work-relatedness nexus.

The concept of 'eggshell skull' rule in TBI tort law means which of the following?

Answer: A defendant is liable for full harm even if the plaintiff's pre-existing vulnerability made the TBI worse than expected

The eggshell skull rule holds defendants liable for all consequences of their negligent act, even if the victim had unusual pre-existing fragility that amplified the harm.

Guardianship for a TBI patient is a legal process that differs from healthcare proxy in which important way?

Answer: Guardianship involves court appointment and oversight, removing broader legal rights; healthcare proxy is limited to medical decisions only

Full guardianship is a more sweeping court-supervised process that can restrict many civil rights, while a healthcare proxy is a narrower, less restrictive advance directive.