Assault and battery; penalty. A battery can occur when the individual is actually touched or when any extension of his body is touched without permission or there is a wrongful contact (e.g., clothing). That's negligence. Well, I need to interview the suspected abuser and the patient separately, so this way if it's a parent and a child, right, I can ask the child about, so how did you break your arm? An assault can occur without any other intentional tort. Avoiding Liability Bulletin January 15, 2015. View the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Client Rights for Minors. Brent has published extensively and has lectured across the country in the area of law and nursing practice. Civil law focuses on the rights, responsibilities, and legal relationships between private citizens, and involves compensation to the injured party. 9235 Katy Freeway, Suite 160, Houston,TX 77024, THIS WEBSITE IS A PAID LEGAL ADVERTISMENT. They are built with a single goal: help you pass with no fluff. In Virginia, assault and battery is considered a Class 1 Misdemeanor which can lead to jail time and a $2,500 fine. When an assault and battery case occurs, it means someone has been simultaneously threatened and harmed. Anyone, including nurses, can be liable for negligence. Battery refers to the actual wrong act of physically . Both of them are defamation of character, but they're slightly different. Assault is the threat of harm, and battery is the physical act itself. Without the other person's consent. Assault, Battery, and False Imprisonment (e.g., inappropriately restraining a patient physically or chemically) are all Intentional Torts.. If a nurse forcibly administers medication without a patient's consent, it could be ruled assault or battery in a court of law. Stop Abuse.National Center on Elder Abuse. The act of assault is always intentional and entails reasonable apprehension by the victim of immediate harm . assault occasioning bodily harm. Medical battery is precisely this, but in a medical setting, where a doctor or medical professional causes a harmful or offensive touching to their patients. In the UK, battery is a common-law offence where according to Actus reus, a defendant unlawfully applied force to a victim, and as with men's rea, the defendant applied unlawful force recklessly or intended to do so. A nurse can interview the suspected abuser and the patient separately, then compare notes and document the consistencies and inconsistencies in the story. When someone punches, pushes, kicks, pinches, and slaps another person, they have committed battery. There are two kinds of defamation of character that you need to know about when you're studying torts in nursing; slander and libel. The use of family, friends, or other untrained interpreters is unsafe practice and is not consistent with acceptable standards of practice. [22], There are several types of injuries for which patients or their representatives seek compensation. [3], Two categories of torts affecting nursing practice are intentional torts and unintentional torts. A specific term used for negligence committed by a health professional with a license. Misdemeanor is less severe than a felony, and will require some jail time, along with substantial fines. So let's get started. For example, in nursing, if you made an internet post about the aforementioned gossip known to be false, or printed out signs about it and hung them up in the hospital, and you knew these statements were untrue, that would be libel. After she got her BSN and started working as an RN at Scripps Encinitas Hospital, she started this YouTube channel to help nursing students around the world. Examples of torts affecting nursing practice are discussed in further detail in the following subsections. An assault is when a person commits an act that puts a victim in reasonable apprehension of harmful or offensive contact. Assault and battery is any kind of physical abuse that causes harm to the patient.