Patient Care · Ethics, law and communication3 min read5-question check
Legal Issues, Doctrines and Documentation
Touch without consent is battery, an unneeded restraint is false imprisonment, and the employer answers for your work.
Torts
A tort is a wrong against a person that can lead to a civil lawsuit. Intentional torts are done on purpose. Assault is a threat that makes the patient fear harm, such as saying the exam will be done whether they like it or not. Battery is touching without consent, even if the exam helps. False imprisonment is holding a patient against their will, including an unneeded restraint. Invasion of privacy is exposing the body or health information without need. Defamation is a false statement that harms a reputation: slander when spoken, libel when written. Unintentional torts are negligence: failing to do what a reasonably prudent radiographer would do. Malpractice is negligence by a professional. Negligence has four elements: a duty, a breach of that duty, causation, and actual harm.
Doctrines
Respondeat superior, let the master answer, makes the employer liable for what an employee does within the scope of the job. You can still be named personally. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself, applies when the injury could not have happened without negligence and the patient was under the caregiver's control. The burden shifts to the defendant to prove they were not negligent. A positioning sponge or sandbag used briefly for an exam, with the patient's agreement, is an immobilization aid. A device that keeps a patient from moving freely is a restraint and needs a physician order and facility policy.
Orders and records
Check the order against the clinical indication before imaging. If the order says left wrist but the pain and swelling are on the right, stop and have the ordering provider correct the order; do not change it yourself. Document order changes, medical events, and contrast doses in the record. An incident report goes to risk management, and the chart records the facts of the event, not that a report was filed. Never alter the exposure indicator or crop or mask away anatomy that was exposed to hide an exposure or collimation error. The record has to reflect what really happened.
Patient rights
The AHA Patient Care Partnership replaced the Patient's Bill of Rights. Patients can expect high-quality care, a clean and safe setting, involvement in their care, protection of their privacy, and help with billing. Advance directives tell the team what a patient wants if they cannot speak for themselves. A living will states treatment wishes. A health care proxy, or durable power of attorney for health care, names a person to decide. A DNR order means no CPR if the heart or breathing stops. It does not mean no care, so still image, position, and comfort the patient.
Clinical Example
An agitated but competent patient refuses to hold still for a hip exam and asks to leave. A new radiographer suggests strapping him to the table. The lead tech stops her: without consent and an order, that is false imprisonment, and touching him against his wishes is battery. They notify the nurse and the ordering provider and document the refusal.
Common Mistakes
- Thinking battery requires harm; any touching without consent counts.
- Changing the side or body part on an order instead of having the provider correct it.
- Writing that an incident report was filed in the patient's chart.
- Treating a DNR order as a reason to withhold routine care.
Why It Matters
The registry asks you to match a scenario to the right legal term or doctrine. These questions are easy points once the definitions are clear, and they reflect the decisions you make with every order and every patient.
Key Relationships
- Threat of harm → assault; touching without consent → battery
- Unneeded restraint → false imprisonment
- Negligence = duty + breach + causation + harm
- Employer liable for employee → respondeat superior
- The thing speaks for itself → res ipsa loquitur