Legal Aspects of Nursing

Presented By
Christine Hicks
Topics
❧ Introduction
❧ General Legal Concepts
❧ Legal Basis for Nursing
❧ Legal Role of the Nurse
❧ Ethical Issues
❧ Ethical Responsibilities
Introduction
❧ Importance of Law to the Nurse
● Nurses have more responsibility

● Increased numbers of Advanced Practice

Nurses

● Law is there to assist in the decision-making

process involved in nursing practice
● Law is there for the protection of nursing
practice

● Law is there for the identification of the risk of

liability
❧ Effects of Law on Nursing Practice
● Legal Basis for Nursing Practice--Licensure
● Guidelines for Care
• Who is the Client--Age of Consent
• Emergency--Good Samaritan Act
• Abused Clients--Criminal Laws
• Use of Restraints
• Dying Patient’s wishes--Advanced Directives
● Guidelines for Care (Continued)
• Confidentiality--Invasion of Privacy
• Documentation
• Incident Reports

● Role of Nurse as Witness

• Witness in Criminal Cases
• Expert Witness
● Negligence & Malpractice

● Criminal Activity
• Assault
• Battery
• Diversion of Narcotics
❧ Contemporary Legislative Issues
● Prescriptive Authority
● Delegation to Unlicensed Personnel
● Unsafe Staffing in the Workplace

❧ Contemporary Roles for Nurses

General Legal Aspects
❧ Definition of Law
● Comes from the word which means “that which
is laid down or fixed”

● Law is a rule or standard of human conduct

established & enforced by authority, society, or
custom
● Law is established for the welfare of society

● Law is not stagnant--changes when society’s

directs a change
Public Law
❧ One type of law is Public Law which deals with
an individual’s relationship to the state

❧ Sources include Constitutional, Administrative

& Criminal

❧ These Sources occur on both the Federal &

State level
❧Constitutional Law
● Set of basic laws that defines & limits the powers of
government

● Nurse maintains rights as an individual

● Constitutional Rights, Civil Rights, State Constitution

❧ Administrative Law
● Developed by groups who are appointed to
governmental administrative agencies

● Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act; Social Security

Act; Nurse Practice Act
❧ Criminal Law
● Acts or offences against the welfare or safety of
the public

● Controlled Substance Act; Criminal Codes

● (See Page 230)

Civil Law
❧ The second type of law is Civil Law which
deals with crimes against a person or
persons in such legal matters as:
● Contracts
● Torts
● Protective Reporting Law
❧ Contract Law is the enforcement of
agreements among private individuals

❧ Elements of:
● Promise
● Mutual Understanding
● Compensation
❧ Employment Contracts is an example of
contract law under civil law
❧Tort Law is the enforcement of duties & rights
among independent of contractual agreements.
It is a civil wrong committed on a person or
property stemming from either a direct invasion
of some legal right of the person, infraction of
some public duty, or the violation of some
private obligation by which damages accrue to
the person.
❧ Examples of Tort Law include:
● Negligence & Malpractice
● Assault & Battery
● False Imprisonment
● Restraints or Seclusion
● Invasion of Privacy
● Defamation
● Fraud
Negligence & Malpractice
❧ Terms
● Liability is an obligation one has incurred or
might incur thru any act or failure to act

● Malpractice refers to the behavior of a

professional person’s wrongful conduct, improper
discharge of professional duties, or failure to meet
the standards of acceptable care which result in
harm to another person
❧ Terms
● Negligence(breach of duty) is the failure of an
individual to provide care that a reasonable
person would ordinarily use in a similar
circumstance
● Defendant is the person being sued
● Plaintiff is the party who initiates the lawsuit
that seeks damages
❧ Proof of Liability depends on:
● Duty
● Breach of duty
● Injury
● Causation
❧ Assault & Battery
● Assault is the intentional & unlawful offer to
touch a person in an offensive , insulting or
physically intimidating manner

● Battery is the touching of another person

without the person’s consent
❧ Protective/Reporting Laws are sometimes
considered criminal laws based on state
classification

❧ Examples include:
● Americans with Disabilities Act
● Good Samaritan Act
Legal Basis for Nursing
❧ Nurse Practice Act

❧ Standards of Care
Legal Role of the Nurse
❧ Provider of Service (p.234)
● Ensure that client receives competent, safe, &
holistic care
● Render care by “standards of reasonable,
prudent person”
● Supervise/evaluate that which has been
delegated
❧ Provider of Service (continued)
● Documentation of care

● Maintain clinical competency