Failure to recognize the client's labored breathing that resulted in pulmonary arrest.

Failure to recognize the client's labored breathing that resulted in pulmonary arrest.

• A. Negligence
• B. Defamation
• C. Battery
• D. Malpractice

Answer: (D)

This is professional negligence in healthcare—malpractice. A clinician has a duty to monitor a patient and to recognize and respond to signs of respiratory distress. When labored breathing is missed and pulmonary arrest results, there’s a breach of that duty, and the harm that follows ties to this breach. In legal terms, the elements are duty, breach of the standard of care, causation, and damages, and this scenario fits all of them for a licensed professional, so it’s malpractice. Defamation would involve harming someone's reputation through false statements, which isn’t at issue here. Battery requires intentional harmful contact, which is not about failing to act but about deliberate physical force. Negligence is the general concept of failing to exercise reasonable care, but malpractice is the specific term used for negligence by a professional in the course of providing care.

This is professional negligence in healthcare—malpractice. A clinician has a duty to monitor a patient and to recognize and respond to signs of respiratory distress. When labored breathing is missed and pulmonary arrest results, there’s a breach of that duty, and the harm that follows ties to this breach. In legal terms, the elements are duty, breach of the standard of care, causation, and damages, and this scenario fits all of them for a licensed professional, so it’s malpractice.

Defamation would involve harming someone's reputation through false statements, which isn’t at issue here. Battery requires intentional harmful contact, which is not about failing to act but about deliberate physical force. Negligence is the general concept of failing to exercise reasonable care, but malpractice is the specific term used for negligence by a professional in the course of providing care.