| A | B |
|---|
| abandonment | Unilateral termination of care by the EMT-B without the patient''s consent and without making provisions for transferring care to another medical professional with skills at the same level or higher. |
| advance directive | Written documentation that specifies medical treatment for a competent patient should the patient become unable to make decisions; also called a living will. |
| assault | Unlawfully placing a patient in fear of bodily harm. |
| battery | Touching a patient or providing emergency care without consent. |
| certification | A process in which a person, an institution, or a program is evaluated and recognized as meeting certain predetermined standards to provide safe and ethical care. |
| competent | Able to make rational decisions about personal well-being. |
| consent | Permission to render care. |
| dependent lividity | Blood settling to the lowest point of the body, causing discoloration of the skin. |
| DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders | Written documentation by a physician giving permission to medical personnel not to attempt resuscitation in the event of cardiac arrest. |
| duty to act | A medicolegal term relating to certain personnel who either by statute or by function have a responsibility to provide care. |
| emergency | A serious situation, such as injury or illness, that threatens the life or welfare of a person or group of people and requires immediate intervention. |
| emergency medical care | Immediate care or treatment. |
| expressed consent | A type of consent in which a patient gives express authorization for provision of care or transport. |
| forcible restraint | The act of physically preventing an individual from any physical action. |
| Good Samaritan laws | Statutory provisions enacted by many states to protect citizens from liability for errors and omissions in giving good faith emergency medical care, unless there is wanton, gross, or willful negligence. |
| implied consent | Type of consent in which a patient who is unable to give consent is given treatment under the legal assumption that he or she would want treatment. |
| informed consent | Permission for treatment given by a competent patient after the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment have been explained. |
| medicolegal | A term relating to medical jurisprudence (law) or forensic medicine. |
| negligence | Failure to provide the same care that a person with similar training would provide. |
| precedence | Basing current action on lessons, rules, or guidelines derived from previous similar experiences. |
| putrefaction | Decomposition of body tissues. |
| rigor mortis | Stiffening of the body; a definitive sign of death. |
| standard of care | Written, accepted levels of emergency care expected by reason of training and profession; written by legal or professional organizations so that patients are not exposed to unreasonable risk or harm. |
