Patient Care Technician (PCT) AAH Practice Exam

Which professional term best describes a breach of duty in medical care?

1. Malpractice

2. Negligence

3. Ethics

4. Standard of care

The correct answer is: Malpractice

The term that best describes a breach of duty in medical care is malpractice. Malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional fails to adhere to the accepted standards of practice, resulting in harm to a patient. This breach of duty can involve negligence, where there is a failure to act with the care that a reasonably prudent professional would exercise in similar circumstances. However, malpractice specifically implies that there has been an injury or damage resulting from this failure to meet the professional standard of care. In this context, the distinction is important; while negligence refers more broadly to careless actions that cause harm, malpractice includes the aspect of professional responsibility and accountability in a medical setting. Additionally, ethics relates to moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity, but it does not directly refer to the legal implications of a breach of duty. The standard of care is a benchmark used to measure the actions of healthcare professionals against their duty to provide appropriate care, but it is not a term that encapsulates the act of breaching that duty itself.