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1. Vyas Viraj V
2nd year MSc Nursing
Legal System: Type of law, Torts and
Liabilities

2. Legal System: Type of law, Torts
and Liabilities
 Legal - Established by or founded upon law or official
or accepted rules
 Law means a body of rules to guide human action
 A knowledge of legal aspects in nursing is absolutely
essential for each nurse to safeguard self and clients
from legal complications.

3. Conti..
 Laws are
“rules of conduct, established and enforced by
authority, which prohibit extremes in behaviour so
that one can live without fear for oneself or one’s
property”. - By Sullivan and Decker, 2001

4. Types of law
1) Common law
 Created by judicial decisions made in courts when
individual cases are decided
 Protects the rights of individual persons within our
society and encourage fair and equitable treatment
among people
 Prevent harm to society and provides punishment
for crimes

5. Conti….
2) TORTS
 Torts a civil wrong made against a person or property
 A tort can be any of the following :
 The denial of a person’s legal right
 The failure to comply with a public duty
 The failure to perform a private duty that results in
harm to another.

6. Conti..
3) Categories of torts
 Unintentional Torts
 Intentional Torts

 INTENTIONAL TORTS
 Any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable
to cause harm to an individual , and that do so.
 Assult
 Battery
 Invasion imprisonment

7. Conti….
 Assault
 Assault occurs when a person puts another
person in fear of a harmful or offensive
contact.
 The victim fears and believes that harm will
result as a result of the threat. it is an
intentional touching of another’s body without
the other’s consent.

8. Conti….
 Battery
 Fraud
 it results from a deliberate deception intended
to produce unlawful gains.
 False imprisonment
 it occurs when a client is not allowed to leave
a health care facility when there is no legal
justification to detain the client or when
restraining devices are used without an
appropriate clinical need.

9. Conti..
 Invasion of privacy:
it includes violating confidentiality intruding
on private client or family matters, and sharing
client information with unauthorized persons .
 Unintentional Torts
Malpractice
Negligence

10. Conti…
 Negligence:
It is conduct that falls below the standard of
care that a reasonable person ordinarily would
use in a similar circumstances or it is
described as lack of proper care and attention
carelessness.
 Malpractice:
failure to meet the standards of acceptable care
which results in harm to another person

11. Types of Nursing Malpractice
 Medication errors
 Failure to follow a physician‘s orders
 Delaying patient care and/or failure to monitor a
patient
 Incorrectly performing a procedure, or trying to
perform a procedure without training
 Documentation error
 Failure to get informed patient consent

12. DO’S AND DON’TS FOR SAFE
PRACTICE:
1) Do document all unusual incidences
2) Do report all unusual incidences
3) Do follow policies and procedures as established
by your employing agency.
4) Do perform procedures that you have been
thought and that are within the standard scope of
your practice

13. Conti…
5) Do not work as a nurse in state in which you are
not licensed
6) Do protect the patient from injury
7) Do not advice that is contrary to the doctor‘s order
or nursing care plan

14. ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF NURSE
MANAGER IN LEGAL ISSUES.
ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF
NURSE MANAGER IN LEGAL
ISSUES.
 Serves as a role model by providing nursing care that
meets or exceeds accepted standards of care.
 Reports substandard nursing care to appropriate
authorities

15. Conti….
 Fosters nurse-patient relationships that are
respectful, caring and honest thus reducing the
possibility of future lawsuits
 Joint and actively supports professional
organizations to strengthen the lobbying efforts of
nurses in health care legislation

16. ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF NURSE
MANAGER IN LEGAL ISSUES.
 Practices nursing within the area of individual
competence
 Prioritizes patients right and welfare first in decision
making
 Delegates to subordinates wisely , looking at the
managers scope of practice and that of those they
supervise.

17. Conti…
 Increases staff awareness of intentional torts and
assist them in developing strategies to reduce
their liability in these areas
 Provides educational and training opportunities
for staff on legal issues affecting nursing practice.