M
malpractice: professional negligence; failure to render proper services through
reprehensible ignorance, negligence, or criminal intent, especially with resultant
injury or loss (para 4-4b).
materiality (material risk) standard of disclosure: the standard of disclosure
whereby the physician's duty to disclose information material to the decision is
determined by the informational needs of a hypothetical objective "reasonable
patient," not by professional practice (para 1-14c).
medical record: a
document that outlines patient evaluation, findings, diagnosis,
and/or treatment (para 3-1).
mental capacity: the ability to make decisions and weigh alternatives; a clinical
determination made by the physician (para 1-24d).
morality: conformity to the rules of right conduct (para 1-4).
moral dilemma: a no-win situation in which the choice is between conflicting moral
principles of equal importance (para 2-7).
N
negligence: conduct which falls below a standard established by the law for the
protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm; failure to exercise such care
as would be expected of a reasonable person (para 4-4a).
normative ethics: a type of ethics that formulates ethical theories and specifies
behaviors that support ethical standards (para 1-5d).
O
P
paternalism: a practice of treating people in an authoritarian manner, especially by
taking care of their needs without giving them any responsibility for health care
decisions (para 1-13g, anecdote).
persistent vegetative state: a
chronic state of
diminished consciousness resulting
from severe generalized brain injury, in which there is no reasonable possibility of
improvement to a cognitive (perceiving and knowing) state (para 2-8b).
placebo effect: a
positive therapeutic effect resulting from an
inert medication,
preparation, or intervention given for its psychological influence, or as a control in an
experiment (para 1-1f).
MD0067
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