MEDICAL ASSAULT & BATTERY

Course overview

The risk of exposure to liability in medical practice extends well beyond the realm of medical malpractice. In cases of medical assault and battery where healthcare practitioners acted with harmful or criminal intent, litigation against those clinicians is completely appropriate. However, there are a number of situations where allegations of assault and battery may come as a complete surprise. The intent of this activity is to provide practitioners with an understanding of the range of assault-and-battery-type situations and the knowledge to appropriately manage these circumstances. The goals are both patient- and practitioner-focused; a thorough understanding of medical assault and battery will help keep patients safe while also minimizing or removing the potential for needless exposure to tort or criminal liability. After completing this activity, practitioners should be able to: integrate knowledge of the concepts related to assault and battery into clinical practice in order to keep patients safe from harm and avoid inadvertent exposure to liability; apply an understanding of the appropriate use of restraint and seclusion to clinical practice in order to keep patients safe from harm and avoid committing a battery; and identify situations in which what would otherwise be an assault or battery would be appropriate and defensible against allegations of medical assault and battery.