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CRIMES RELATED TO NURSING PRACTICES

Adel Perida DL. De la Cruz, RN

Crime: Definition
It is an act committed or omitted in violation of the law. It is composed of two elements:
(1) Criminal Act and
(2) Evil/Criminal Intent

Conspiracy to Commit a Crime


A conspiracy to commit a crime exists when two or more persons agree to commit a felony and
decide to do it.

Persons who are criminally liable: Principals


Are those who take a direct part in the execution of the act; who directly force or induce others
to commit; or who cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without which it
would not have been accomplished.

Persons who are criminally liable: Accomplices


Are those persons who, not being principals, cooperate in the execution of the offense by
previous or simultaneous act.

Persons who are criminally liable: Accessories


Are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the crime, either as principals or
accomplices, take part in the subsequent to its commission by profiting themselves or assisting
the offender to profit from the effects of the crime by concealing or destroying the body
discovery or by harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal of the crime.

Criminal Actions
Deal with acts or offenses against public welfare.
Misdemeanor
Is a general name for a criminal offense in law which does not amount to felony.
Felony
Is a public offense for which a convicted person is liable to be sentenced to death or to be
imprisoned in a penitentiary or prison.
Is committed with deceit (dolo) & fault (culpa).
Criminal Negligence,
mala in se and mala prohibita
Criminal Negligence committed by means of fault (culpa); deceit (dolo), and those which are
punished by special law.

Mala in Se: crime that is considered wrong/evil


Mala Prohibita: conduct that constitutes an unlawful act only by virtue of statute

Kinds of Criminal Negligence


Reckless Imprudence doing or failing to do an act resulting to injuries or death due to an
inexcusable lack of precaution.
Simple Imprudence - mere lack of precaution in a situation where threatened harm is not
immediate or the impending danger is not openly visible or manifest.
Culpa Contractual (Breach of Contract) when a nurse is contractually obligated to perform a
particular health service or intervention to a patient and he/she causes death or injuries to the
latter.
Culpa aquiliana a tortous - liability which arises from the breach of a professional duty to any
person fixed by the laws and such breach constitutes violation of a private legal right, not
created by any contract.

Criminal Intent
Is the state of mind of a person at the time the criminal act is committed.
Two elements of deliberate intent: freedom and intelligence
Freedom: Act done with thought and with power to choose between two things
Intelligence: Ability to determine the morality of human acts, as well as the capacity to
distinguish between a licit or illicit act.

Circumstances Affecting Criminal Liability


Justifying Circumstances: free from criminal and civil liability
- Self - defense
1. Unlawful aggression on the part of the offended or injured party
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent/repel it
3. Lack of sufficient provocation on the person defending himself
- Defense of relatives - up to 4th degree by consanguinity; that in the case of
provocation was given by the attacked, that the one making defense had no part therein
- Defense of a stranger - defending not induced by resentment, revenge or other evil
motives
- Who acts in fulfillment of a duty or in a lawful exercise of a right or office
- Who acts in obedience to an order by a superior for some lawful purpose

Exempting Circumstances: no criminal liability only civil liability.


- Mistake of fact : (ignorantia facti excusat) must be committed in good faith or
under an honest belief
- An imbecile or insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval.
- Below 9 years old
- Over 9 years of age and under fifteen unless he/she acted with discernment
- Causes an injury which is merely an accident without fault or intention or
causing it
- Acts under the compulsion of an irresistible force
- Acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury
- Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by
some lawful or insuperable cause

Justifying vs. Exempting Circumstances


Mitigating Circumstances: Are those which do not constitute justification or excuse of the
offense in question, but which in fairness and mercy, may be considered as extenuating degree
of moral culpability.
- Under 18 or over 70
- No intention to commit so grave a wrong
- Sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended party immediately
preceded the act
- Voluntary surrender
- Deaf, dumb or blind or suffering from physical defect
- Such illness that would diminish the exercise of his will power
- Committed in the immediate vindication of a grave offense to the one committing the
felony, his/her spouse, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or
sisters, relative by affinity within the same degree
- Acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced an obfuscation

Aggravating Circumstances
Are those attending the commission of crime and which increased the criminal liability of the
offender to make his guilt more severe.
- Advantage of public position
- In contempt or insult to public authorities
- Committed with insult or in disregard of the respect of the offended party on
account of his or her rank, age or sex that is committed in the dwelling of the
offended party
- Abuse of confidence or obvious ungratefulness
- Committed in the place of worship
- Committed on occasion of epidemic, conflagration, shipwreck or other calamity
or misfortune
- In consideration of a price or reward or promise
- Committed by means of fire, explosion, stranded of a vessel
- With evident premeditation
- Craft, fraud or disguise

Alternative Circumstances
Are those which must be taken into consideration as aggravating or mitigating
according to the nature and effects of the crime and other conditions attending in commission.
These are the relationship, intoxication and degree of instruction, and degree of education of
the offender.
Should be taken consideration when the offended party is the spouse, ascendant or
descendant, legitimate, natural or adopted or relatives.
- Lack of education is not mitigating in rape, forcible abduction, arson, treason, seduction,
acts of lasciviousness, heinous crime.

Criminal Liability
Nurse may incur criminal liability or subject herself to criminal prosecution either by
committing a felony or by performing an act which would be an offense against person or
property.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for failure to comply therewith.
Violators of the criminal law cannot escape punishment on the ground of ignorance of the law.
Liability
An obligation or duty which is owed by one person to another to refrain from some
course or conduct injurious to the latter or to perform some act or to do something for
the benefit of the latter and for breach of which the law gives the remedy to the latter as
damages, restitution, specific performance, and / or injunction.
Simply the legal responsibility for acts or failure to act according to standards, protocols
or policies of the hospital, resulting in another persons injury or death.
It means legal accountability or obligation to pay money, do or refrain to do something,
and / or serve penalty as adjudged by the court or administrative body.
Examples: Liabilities of Nursing
Liability for injury to patient
Liability for sponge left in the patients abdomen
Liability for a safety pin left in patients abdomen
Liability for defective equipment
Liability for death for patient who jump from window of his room
Liability for negligence of surgical nurse
Liability for rupture of surgical wound.
Liability for burns for suffered by patient
Liability for burns from hot water bags
Liability for negligence of nurse employees
Liability for death of infant resulting from injection of digoxin
Liability of nurse performing administrative work

Lawsuits
Actions brought to the court or tribunal.
Any action, complaint, charge, case or legal proceeding brought before the court of law,
tribunal or quasi-judicial body, in which the party commencing the case seeks a legal remedy.
It is initiated by any person who is called the plaintiff in civil action or the complainant in other
lawsuits, against another who is called the defendant in civil actions or the respondent in
administrative case or the accused in criminal case.

Lawsuits (cont.)
Three (3) basic lawsuits are civil, criminal and administrative.
The parties in a lawsuit:
a. Civil actions, the plaintiff against the defendant.
b. Criminal Actions, the people against the accused.
c. Administrative cases, the complainant against respondent.

Legal Doctrine
A framework, set of rules, procedural steps, or test, often established through precedent in the
common law through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case or lawsuit.
Generally accepted principle of law which is being used or applied in the resolution of cases, be
it administrative, civil or criminal.

Points in Order to Avoid Criminal Liability:


1. Be very familiar with the Philippine nursing law.
2. Beware of laws that affecting nursing practice
3. At the start of employment, get a copy of your job description, the agencys rules, regulations
and policies.
4. Upgrade you skills and competence
5. Accept only such responsibility that is within the scope of your employment and your job
description.
6. Do not delegate your responsibilities to others.
7. Determine whether your subordinates are competent in the work you are assigning them.
8. Develop good interpersonal relationships with your co-workers, whether they be your
supervisors, peers or subordinates.
9. Consult your superior for problems that maybe too big for you to handle.
10. Verify orders that are not clear to you or those that seem to be erroneous.
11. The doctors should be informed about the patients conditions
12. Keep in mind the values and necessity of keeping accurate and adequate records
13. Patients are entitled to an informed consent.

Kinds of Civil Liability


Actual or compensatory damages pertain to losses that are actually sustained by the plaintiff.
These are such compensation or damages for an injury and will put the injured party in the
position in which he was before he was injured.
Moral Damages are awarded by reason of physical suffering, mental anguish, fright,
serious anxiety, besmirched, reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social
humiliation and similar injury.
Nominal damages are awarded for vindication or recognition of a legal right.
Temperate or moderate damages are those damages which are more than nominal but
less than compensatory damages which may be recovered when the court finds that
some pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount cannot, from the nature of the
case, be proved with certainty.
Liquidated damages are those damages agreed upon by the parties to a contract, to be
paid in case of breach thereof.
Exemplary or corrective damages are those imposed by way of example or correction
for the public good, in addition to the moral, temperate, liquidated or compensatory
damages.

Nurses and Crimes


Parricide killing of his father, mother or child or any of his ascendants, descendants
(legitimate or illegitimate) and spouse
Murder - unlawful killing of human being with intent to kill
Homicide - killing of a human being by another. Maybe committed without intent to kill.
Abortion Any person who, with the intention of prematurely ending a pregnancy, willfully
and unlawfully does any act to cause the same is guilty of procuring abortion.
Infanticide - killing of a child less than 3 days of age
Robbery taking of personal property of another person from him or her in his presence.
Controlled Substances - DDA of 1972, covers the administration and regulation of the
manufacture, distribution, and dispensing of controlled drugs. Persons authorized to prescribe
or dispense these drugs are required to register and have a special license for this purpose.
Nurses may only administer these drugs only upon the written order of a physician duly
licensed to prescribe such.
Under Philippine Law, Child Abuse refers to the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the
child, and such maltreatment includes any of the following:
a. Psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional
maltreatment
b. Any act, by deeds or words, which debases, degrades, or demeans the intrinsic worth and
dignity of a child as a human being
c. Unreasonable deprivation of the child's basic needs for survival, such as food, shelter or
d. Failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child, resulting in serious
impairment of his growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or death.
TORTS
A legal wrong committed against a person or property independent of a contract which
renders the person who commits it liable for damages in a civil action.
Examples:
a. Assault and Battery
b. False imprisonment or Illegal Detention
c. Invasion of Right of Privacy and Breach of Confidentiality
A. Assault Attempt to touch or threat another person unjustifiably.
Battery willful touching of a person that may or may not cause harm; unconsented
touching of another person.
Defamation: communication that is false and results in injury to the reputation of the
patient.
Libel by means of print, writing or pictures
Slander through spoken words
TORTS
B. False Imprisonment of Illegal Detention - Unjustifiable detention of a person
without a legal warrant within boundaries
C. Invasion of Right to Privacy and Breach of Confidentiality
Right to privacy - is the right to be left alone
Right to be free from unwarranted publicity
Exposure to public view
Divulge information from patients chart to improper sources or unauthorized
person

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