CONSUMER BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES The Commission's consumer bill of rights consists of the following rights and responsibilities: 1. Access to Accurate, Easily Understood Information about health plans, facilities, and professionals to assist consumers in making informed health care decisions; 2. Choice of Health Care Providers that is sufficient to ensure access to appropriate high quality care. This right includes providing consumers with complex or serious medical conditions access to specialists, giving women access to qualified providers to cover routine women's health services, and ensuring continuity of care for consumers who are undergoing a course of treatment for a chronic or disabling condition; 3. Access to Emergency Services when and where the need arises. This provision requires health plans to cover these services in situations where a prudent layperson could reasonably expect that the absence of care could place their health in serious jeopardy; 4. Participation in Treatment Decisions including requiring providers to disclose any incentives -- financial or otherwise -- that might influence their decisions, and prohibiting gag clauses that restrict health care providers' ability to communicate with and advise patients about medically necessary options; 5. Assurance that Patients are Respected and Not Discriminated Against, including prohibiting discrimination in the delivery of health care services based on race, gender, ethnicity, mental or physical disability, and sexual orientation; 6. Confidentiality provisions that ensure that individually identifiable medical information is not disseminated and that provide consumers the right to review, copy, and request amendments to their medical records; 7. Grievance and Appeals Processes for consumers to resolve their differences with their health plans and health care providers -- including an internal and external appeals process; and 8. Consumer Responsibilities provisions that ask consumers to take responsibility by maximizing healthy habits, becoming involved in health care decisions, carrying out agreed-upon treatment plans, and reporting fraud. Note. Adapted from the President's Advisory Commission. (1997). Consumer bill of rights and responsibilities. Retrieved from https://govinfo.library. unt.edu/hcquality/press/cborimp.html
minor child, the healthcare provider has an obligation to report this to the appropriate Child Protective Services division of the state’s Office of Family and Children. A judge may also order documents (clinical records) to be turned over to the court for examination. A subpoena to appear in court does not constitute a judge’s order to release information; it merely mandates the appearance of the subpoenaed individual. Violation of the confidentiality of a patient with a psychiatric illness in situations other than those outlined by law may subject the nurse to legal action and revocation of licensure. Most agencies have an acceptable form that identifies to whom information can be released, the date that the release is valid, and types of information that can be shared.
In addition to the Consumer Bill of Rights, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996 and went into effect in 2003 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). This act was designed to protect patient health information more securely and has been a major force behind the use of electronic health records. There are a few circumstances where confidentiality may be waived in mental health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). If the patient has made a direct threat against another person, the healthcare provider has a clear duty to warn the endangered individual (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). If the patient has reported actual or suspected abuse (including molestation) or neglect of a
NURSING LIABILITY IN MENTAL HEALTH
include making threats to restrain a patient or making threats to administer an injection for failure to cooperate. ● Battery involves harmful or unwarranted contact with a patient; actual injury may or may not occur. Examples of this include touching a patient without consent or unnecessarily restraining a patient. ● False imprisonment involves the unjustifiable detention of a patient. Examples of this include inappropriate use of a restraint or inappropriate use of seclusion Unintentional torts are involuntary acts that result in harm to the patient and include the following: ● Negligence involves causing harm by failing to do what a reasonable and prudent person would do in a similar circumstance (anyone can be negligent). Examples of this include failing to erect a fence around a pool and a small child drowns or leaving a shovel on the icy ground and someone falls down on it and cuts their head. ● Malpractice is a type of negligence that refers specifically to healthcare professionals. An example of this includes a nurse who does not check the treatment orders and subsequently gives a medication that kills the patient.
The state nurse practice act (NPA) is the single most important piece of legislation for the nurse because it affects ALL facets of nursing practice. Each state has its own NPA for which the courts have jurisdiction. NPA's generally grant specific provisions on how nurses practice in a state and define 3 levels of nurses: LPNs, RNs, and APRNs with defined scopes of practice. The nurse practice act also established a state board of nursing. Its main purpose is to ensure enforcement of the act and protect the public. Individuals who present themselves as nurses must be licensed. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing serves as a clearinghouse, further ensuring that nursing licenses are recorded and enforced in all states. Individual state boards of nursing develop and implement rules and regulations regarding the discipline of nursing. Most changes deal with modifications with rules and regulations rather than the act itself. Nurses must be advised of the provisions of the state’s nurse practice act. Thus, what is acceptable in one state is not necessarily acceptable in another state. The nurse has legal liability in the psychiatric setting when caring for patients (Boyd, 2018). Torts are wrongful acts that result in injury, loss, or damage and can be intentional or unintentional (Boyd, 2018). Intentional torts are voluntary acts that result in harm to the patient and include the following: ● Assault involves any action that causes an individual to fear being touched in any way without consent. Examples of this
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Book Code: ANCCUS3023
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