Health Law Practice Exam Questions

1. 1.Elements of medical malpractice: (1) Duty -- physician-patient relationship established, (2) Breach -- deviation from the standard of care, (3) Causation -- the failure to diagnose caused harm, (4) Damages -- delayed treatment and worse prognosis.
2. 2.Standard of care: Expert testimony establishes the standard. Conflicting expert opinions create a jury question. The applicable standard is what a reasonably prudent physician in the same specialty would do under similar circumstances.
3. 3.Causation: The patient must prove that earlier diagnosis would have led to a better outcome (loss of chance doctrine in some jurisdictions). The six-month delay must be shown to have materially affected the prognosis.
4. 4.Damages: Difference in treatment options, additional medical costs, pain and suffering, and potentially shortened life expectancy.

1. 1.Informed consent doctrine: A physician must disclose material risks, benefits, and alternatives before obtaining consent to treatment.
2. 2.Physician-based standard (professional standard): The physician must disclose what a reasonable physician in the same specialty would disclose. Some physicians may not disclose a 5% risk.
3. 3.Patient-based standard (reasonable patient standard): The physician must disclose what a reasonable patient would want to know to make an informed decision. A 5% risk of permanent paralysis is material to any reasonable patient's decision.
4. 4.Failure to disclose alternative: The less invasive alternative with a lower risk profile is material information regardless of the standard applied.
5. 5.Causation: The patient must show that a reasonable patient (or this particular patient) would have declined the surgery or chosen the alternative had the risks been disclosed.

Correct Answer: B

HIPAA does not create a private right of action. Patients cannot sue directly under HIPAA for privacy violations. However, the patient may have claims under state privacy laws, negligence (the hospital's duty to protect patient information), or state consumer protection statutes. The hospital could face HIPAA enforcement actions by HHS and state attorneys general.

Correct Answer: B

A signed consent form is evidence that the patient consented to the disclosed risks, but it does not establish consent to risks that were not disclosed. Informed consent requires disclosure of material risks. If the allergic reaction was a known, material risk that was not disclosed, the consent form does not protect the physician from an informed consent claim regarding that particular risk.

Correct Answer: B

In an emergency where the patient is unable to consent and no surrogate decision-maker is available, consent is implied if a reasonable person in the patient's position would consent to the treatment. Life-saving surgery for an unconscious accident victim is the classic example of implied consent in an emergency. This is a well-established exception to the general requirement of informed consent.