HLT POL 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Lifesaving, Phlebotomy, Punitive Damages

• School: UCLA
• Department: Health Policy and Management
• Course: HLT POL 100
• Professor: Marcy Boroff

Document Summary

Healthcare professionals need to be on constant alert for practices that could result in injury to the patient. Not only is the injury a painful process, it can also be a life-threatening one. All healthcare professionals must realize that they are responsible for their actions. The physician/employer also assumes responsibility for the employees through the doctrine of respondeat superior. Professional misconduct or demonstration of an unreasonable lack of skill with the result of injury, loss, or damage to the patient is considered malpractice. Malpractice acts consist of professional misconduct, improper discharge of professional duties, and failure to meet professional standards of care that result in harm to another person. Negligence, which is often an unintentional action, occurs when a person either performs or fails to perform an action that a reasonable professional person would or would not have performed in a similar situation.