TEST BANK FOR CONTEMPORARY NURSING 8TH EDITION BY CHERRY
Chapter 08: Legal Issues in Nursing and Health Care
Cherry and Jacob: Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, and Management, 8th
Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A client arrives in active labor and exhibits toxemia with irregular fetal heart tones. The client
is an immigrant and is uninsured. Which act would prevent the client from being transferred
to another facility?
a. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law
b. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
c. Patient Self-Determination Act
d. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act
ANS: A
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law is a federal statute that was enacted
in 1986 to prohibit the transfer of unstable clients, including women in labor, from one facility
to another. This law also prohibits refusal of care for indigent and uninsured clients who seek
medical assistance in the emergency department.
DIF: Comprehension
2. A nurse is caring for a client with malignant hypertension whose blood pressure has increased
by 40 mm Hg during the past hour. The nurse goes to lunch and fails to report the change to
the physician. The nurse is at risk for being charged with which legal claim?
a. Negligence NURSINGKING.COM
b. Assault
c. Defamation of character
d. Tort
ANS: A
Negligence is defined as failure to act in a reasonable and prudent manner. The most frequent
allegations of nursing negligence include failure to ensure client safety, improper treatment,
failure to monitor the client and report significant findings, medication errors, and failure to
follow the agency’s policies and procedures.
DIF: Comprehension
3. A nurse is caring for a client who just suffered a stroke and is medicated for pain. The nurse
completes the following interventions: places the client on the examining table, completes a
thorough history and physical, covers the client with a sheet, places the call button within
reach, and goes out in the hall to speak with the client’s primary care provider. The client tries
to get up to speak with his family and falls, sustaining a hematoma on the head and a broken
hip. The nurse’s actions reflect which legal claim?
a. Invasion of privacy
b. Libel
c. Slander
d. Negligence
ANS: D
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, TEST BANK FOR CONTEMPORARY NURSING 8TH EDITION BY CHERRY
The nurse is failing to ensure client safety after medication administration; this is defined as
negligence.
DIF: Comprehension
4. A nursing student planning to apply for licensure knows that being charged with which
offense would result in a misdemeanor criminal offense?
a. Solicitation of illegal drugs
b. Stealing a car
c. Failing to report elder abuse
d. Billing Medicare for services not rendered
ANS: C
Failing to report elder abuse can lead to penalty of fine or imprisonment and is tried as a
misdemeanor offense.
DIF: Comprehension
5. When differentiating between slander and libel, the nurse knows that libel is characterized by
what action?
a. Defamation caused by subjective comments written in the nurse’s notes
b. Negative subjective comments made to those who are not providing care
c. Verbally describing to the oncoming nurse assigned to the client objective data that
place the client in a negative light
d. Repeating prejudiced comments made by the primary caregiver to a neighbor at
the local supermarket
ANS: A NURSINGKING.COM
Libel is defined as comments that are written about a person that are defaming. Nurses may be
subject to a charge of libel for subjective comments meant to denigrate the client that are
placed in the medical record or in other written materials read by others. Slander refers to an
injury to one’s reputation caused by the spoken word.
DIF: Comprehension
6. A client states, “I am leaving. No one here knows what they are doing.” The nurse completing
the Against Medical Advice form must implement what intervention to best assure client
safety?
a. Notify the primary health care provider of the client’s wish to leave.
b. Alert family that the client will be leaving the facility.
c. Inform the client that leaving could result in complications and impairment.
d. Require security staff to accompany the client to the facility’s main entrance.
ANS: C
The nurse must articulate to the client the dangers associated with leaving the facility if the
primary provider is not present. The nurse’s notes on this form should reflect the specific
advice given to the client, which should include the fact that leaving the facility could
aggravate the current condition and complicate future care, resulting in permanent physical or
mental impairment or disability, or resulting in complications that can cause death. None of
the other options address the client’s known safety risks.
This study source was downloaded by 100000832361371 from CourseHero.com on 04-12-2022 02:00:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/74156774/08pdf/ NURSINGKING.COM
Chapter 08: Legal Issues in Nursing and Health Care
Cherry and Jacob: Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, and Management, 8th
Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A client arrives in active labor and exhibits toxemia with irregular fetal heart tones. The client
is an immigrant and is uninsured. Which act would prevent the client from being transferred
to another facility?
a. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law
b. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
c. Patient Self-Determination Act
d. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act
ANS: A
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law is a federal statute that was enacted
in 1986 to prohibit the transfer of unstable clients, including women in labor, from one facility
to another. This law also prohibits refusal of care for indigent and uninsured clients who seek
medical assistance in the emergency department.
DIF: Comprehension
2. A nurse is caring for a client with malignant hypertension whose blood pressure has increased
by 40 mm Hg during the past hour. The nurse goes to lunch and fails to report the change to
the physician. The nurse is at risk for being charged with which legal claim?
a. Negligence NURSINGKING.COM
b. Assault
c. Defamation of character
d. Tort
ANS: A
Negligence is defined as failure to act in a reasonable and prudent manner. The most frequent
allegations of nursing negligence include failure to ensure client safety, improper treatment,
failure to monitor the client and report significant findings, medication errors, and failure to
follow the agency’s policies and procedures.
DIF: Comprehension
3. A nurse is caring for a client who just suffered a stroke and is medicated for pain. The nurse
completes the following interventions: places the client on the examining table, completes a
thorough history and physical, covers the client with a sheet, places the call button within
reach, and goes out in the hall to speak with the client’s primary care provider. The client tries
to get up to speak with his family and falls, sustaining a hematoma on the head and a broken
hip. The nurse’s actions reflect which legal claim?
a. Invasion of privacy
b. Libel
c. Slander
d. Negligence
ANS: D
This study source was downloaded by 100000832361371 from CourseHero.com on 04-12-2022 02:00:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/74156774/08pdf/ NURSINGKING.COM
, TEST BANK FOR CONTEMPORARY NURSING 8TH EDITION BY CHERRY
The nurse is failing to ensure client safety after medication administration; this is defined as
negligence.
DIF: Comprehension
4. A nursing student planning to apply for licensure knows that being charged with which
offense would result in a misdemeanor criminal offense?
a. Solicitation of illegal drugs
b. Stealing a car
c. Failing to report elder abuse
d. Billing Medicare for services not rendered
ANS: C
Failing to report elder abuse can lead to penalty of fine or imprisonment and is tried as a
misdemeanor offense.
DIF: Comprehension
5. When differentiating between slander and libel, the nurse knows that libel is characterized by
what action?
a. Defamation caused by subjective comments written in the nurse’s notes
b. Negative subjective comments made to those who are not providing care
c. Verbally describing to the oncoming nurse assigned to the client objective data that
place the client in a negative light
d. Repeating prejudiced comments made by the primary caregiver to a neighbor at
the local supermarket
ANS: A NURSINGKING.COM
Libel is defined as comments that are written about a person that are defaming. Nurses may be
subject to a charge of libel for subjective comments meant to denigrate the client that are
placed in the medical record or in other written materials read by others. Slander refers to an
injury to one’s reputation caused by the spoken word.
DIF: Comprehension
6. A client states, “I am leaving. No one here knows what they are doing.” The nurse completing
the Against Medical Advice form must implement what intervention to best assure client
safety?
a. Notify the primary health care provider of the client’s wish to leave.
b. Alert family that the client will be leaving the facility.
c. Inform the client that leaving could result in complications and impairment.
d. Require security staff to accompany the client to the facility’s main entrance.
ANS: C
The nurse must articulate to the client the dangers associated with leaving the facility if the
primary provider is not present. The nurse’s notes on this form should reflect the specific
advice given to the client, which should include the fact that leaving the facility could
aggravate the current condition and complicate future care, resulting in permanent physical or
mental impairment or disability, or resulting in complications that can cause death. None of
the other options address the client’s known safety risks.
This study source was downloaded by 100000832361371 from CourseHero.com on 04-12-2022 02:00:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/74156774/08pdf/ NURSINGKING.COM
