| A | B |
|---|
| accountability | responsibility for the outcomes of one's own actions |
| advanced directives | directives to withhold or remove advanced life-sustaining measures when a condition is terminal |
| assault | either a threat or an attempt to injure another in an illegal manner |
| battery | unlawful touching of another person without the person's consent, with or without resultant injury. Assault and battery are often charged together because of successful attempt to injure |
| biopsy | the excision of a small piece of tissue for the purpose of examination and diagnosis |
| breach | breaking a law or any obligation, tie, or contract |
| civil law | pertains to legal relationships between private individuals |
| common law | a term given to an unwritten law, customs with the authority of law, or precedents established by judges and juries in past cases |
| conduct | one's actions in general; behavior |
| consent | permission voluntarily granted by a person who is competent; written consent is preferred because it is easier to verify |
| crime | an act that is forbiden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law |
| criminal law | defines legal obligations between the individual citizen and the state |
| custom | long-established practice; accepted behavior |
| defamation of character | the wrongful injury of another's reputation or character without good reason or cause |
| diagnostic related groups (DRGs) | classification of patients according to medical diagnoses for the purpose of paying hospitalization costs |
| emancipated minor | a person between the ages of 16 and 18 who lives apart from the parents or guardian and is responsible for handling his or her own finances |
| ethics | moral standards or a code of conduct that represents ideal behavior for a particular group |
| false imprisonment | holding or detaining a person against his or her own will |
| felony | a serious crime, for which the penalty can be imprisonment in the state prison for more than 1 year |
| guardian | a person who is legally entrusted with the care of a person or property, having been supplied sufficient information regarding its advantages and disadvantages |
| health care proxy | an agent of a patient authorized to make health care decisions for the patient; instituted when the patient is not mentally capable of making decisions |
| hypothetical | involving a supposition for the purpose of reasoning; fictitious with a logical purpose |
| informed consent | agreement given by a patient to undergo treatment or therapy after the patient has been given sufficient information regarding its advantages, disadvantages, and alternatives |
| invasion of privacy | a civil wrong that unlawfully makes public any private or personal information without the consent of the wronged person |
| libel | a civil wrong; to communicate in writing to a third party false defamatory matter about an individual or a group |
| litigation | another word for lawsuit |
| living will | a legal document designating measures a person wants to have instituted if an incident occurs that places the person in critical condition and unable to make decisions about health care; essentially the same as advance directives |
| malpractice | literally "bad practice", i.e. improper or injurious practice by a professional person; unskilled and faulty medical or surgical treatment |
| misdemeanor | a crime less serious than a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of less than 1 year |
| negligence | failure to perform in a reasonable prudent manner |
| overt | open; not hidden |
| power of attorney | legal transfer of power to make legally binding decisions from one person to another |
| privileged communication | any personal or private information related to a patient's care that a patient gives to medical personnel |
| profession | a calling or vocation that requires special preparation, knowledge, and skills |
| quality improvement | efforts aimed at ensuring quality of care and evaluating care given; evaluation of nursing services provided and results achieved, as compared with established standards of care |
| slander | spoken statement of false charges or misrepresentations that defame or damage another's reputation, as distinguished from libel, which is written |
| standard of care | the obligation under law for a nurse or other health care worker to perform services for a patient that meet the common standards of practice expected in the community for a comparable worker |
| statutory law | law that has been enacted by a legislative branch of the government |
| tort | a civil wrong occurring between two or more persons |
| unethical | not ethical; not representative of ideal behavior |
| value system | a pattern of conduct, or set of behaviors or ideals, that is accepted as worthwhile or meaningful |
| abbreviation | a shortened form of a term that is intended to represent the complete term |
| acronym | a word made from the first letters of a name. ex: ANA = American Nurses Association |
| combining form | the union of a word root with a combining vowel. ex: bio-life |
| combining vowel | a vowel that joins the word root to the suffix or to another root |
| prefix | the beginning of a word. ex: auto- (self) |
| root | the basis of a word. ex: nephr (kidney) |
| suffix | the ending of a word. ex: -cyte (cell) |
| symbol | a printed or written sign that represents something else. ex: + (positive) |
