Deck 16: Legal Issues

Question 1

Guidelines from an individual to influence medical treatment when that person has become incapacitated are called _________.

A) advance directives
B) holographic wills
C) power of attorney
D) probate
E) codicils

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A 1981 presidential commission proposed a definition of death later codified in the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA). This definition requires or includes:

A) An invariant procedure for the determination of death
B) Reversible loss of circulatory & respiratory functions
C) Irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem
D) Irreversible stoppage of the capacity for bodily integration and social interaction
E) A metaphysical change in the very substance of the being

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Studies have shown that physician/patient conversations about death-related issues can .

A) induce anxiety in patients with advanced cancer
B) increase knowledge without diminishing hope
C) undermine efforts to engage in advance care planning
D) frustrate goals of good end-of-life care
E) be costly to physicians since they are not reimbursed by Medicare

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Death certificates are necessary for:

A) Collecting life insurance
B) Investigation of crime
C) Disposition of property rights
D) Receiving death benefits
E) All of these

Question 5

In preparing a living will, the competent decision maker is .

A) the durable power of attorney
B) the family
C) the physician
D) the author
E) the lawyer

Question 6

When a state's legislature and courts have not addressed a death-related matter, legal disputes turn for guidance to _________.

A) living wills
B) trust funds
C) common law
D) state statutes
E) federal laws

Question 7

In 1968 an ad hoc committee of the Harvard Medical School recommended criteria for certifying death based on _________.

A) a drop in blood pressure and pulse rate
B) the presence of an irreversible coma
C) an inability to speak and walk
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 8

In the U.S., when someone dies who was not under the care of a physician or the death occurred suddenly, determination of death falls under the jurisdiction of .

A) a medical examiner or coroner
B) a durable power of attorney
C) an appointed lawyer
D) a hospital emergency room
E) the police

Question 9

The "Five Wishes" document:

A) Is legally valid in a majority of states
B) Is designed to be easy to understand and use
C) Can guide health care even without having legal force
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 10

The Harvard Committee's criteria (1968) on determination of death apply to .

A) all persons who are dying
B) persons involved in automobile accidents
C) individuals in an irreversible coma
D) individuals who have suffered serious trauma
E) None of these

Question 11

A principal document on which determinations of death are recorded, and which is the basis for much record keeping on deaths and collection of statistical data, is:

A) A living will
B) A durable power of attorney
C) An advance directive
D) A death certificate
E) A holographic will

Question 12

The scope of a "durable power of attorney in health care matters" can include .

A) admission to a nursing home
B) consent to resuscitation measures
C) withholding nourishment
D) withdrawing life-support measures
E) All of these

Question 13

The person authorized by an advance directive to carry out an incapacitated individual's wishes concerning health care matters is called:

A) A durable power of attorney
B) An intestee
C) An heir
D) A health care proxy or surrogate decision maker
E) An executor or executrix

Question 14

Living wills depend mainly upon the right of competent decision makers to .

A) free speech
B) the pursuit of happiness
C) give or withhold informed consent
D) practice their own religious beliefs
E) None of these

Question 15

As of February 1, 2017, how many individuals in the U.S. are estimated to die each day while waiting for an organ transplant?

A) 2-3
B) 5
C) 7-8
D) Nearly 13
E) Approximately 18

Question 16

In the United States in recent years, .

A) the single largest obstacle to organ transplantation is the scarcity of transplantable organs
B) numbers of transplant candidates on the National Waiting List for a major organ transplant have remained relatively stable
C) numbers of organ donors have declined
D) transplantable human organs can only be recovered from deceased donors
E) numbers of actual organ transplants have declined

Question 17

Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) are:

A) A medical order signed by a health-care professional
B) An advance directive
C) A substitute for a health care proxy
D) Not part of an individual's medical file
E) Only able to be modified upon the patient's death

Question 18

The Patient Self-Determination Act requires that persons be informed of their right to execute an advance directive about wishes for care. This applies to:

A) Terminally ill persons
B) Individuals who have a durable power of attorney
C) People being admitted to a health care institution that receives federal Medicare or Medicaid funds
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 19

As originally developed, "living wills" indicating an individual's desires about medical treatment:

A) Were legal documents mandating no intubation and life-saving medications
B) Were based on the individual's right to privacy
C) Stated the wishes of persons when their health status changed
D) Acknowledged a desire to live and to receive all measures to prevent death
E) Reflected concerns by individuals about finding themselves in situations where they could take part in making medical decisions

Question 20

As a result of the actions of Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu (as described in the vignette near the beginning of Chapter 16 in the eighth edition of Death & Dying, Life & Living), we learned that:

A) His daughter, Erika Elizabeth, became an organ donor.
B) The National Donor Family Quilt was established.
C) His daughter, Vikki Lianne, received hospice care.
D) His wife, Donna Lee, was saved from death.
E) More than a dozen people received organ or tissue transplants.

Question 21

In 2016 in the United States living organ donors were .

A) less than 2 percent of all donors
B) a little over 37 percent of all donors
C) about 15 percent of all donors
D) nearly 10 percent of all donor
E) about 75 percent of all donors

Question 22

Explain the so-called "NASH" system. What does it mean? When, where, or how does it apply?

Question 23

Imagine a 28-year-old married woman with two children who is brain dead from a car accident. Without her written consent, authorization to donate her kidneys will be sought from:

A) Her physician
B) Her husband
C) Her minor children
D) Her lawyer
E) "Presumed consent"

Question 24

Individuals in persistent vegetative states who are receiving external life support:

A) May not become organ donors until they have experienced brain death
B) May never become organ donors
C) May not become organ donors until they become competent decision makers
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 25

If an unmarried individual dies without a will or any qualified heir, his or her estate passes to .

A) the city in which the person lived at the time of death
B) the state in which the person lived at the time of death
C) the federal government
D) the church or religious body with which he or she was affiliated
E) the Internal Revenue Service

Question 26

Which of the following is a significant barrier to organ and tissue donation?

A) Potential donors who authorize donation by signing the form on the back of their state auto driver's license
B) The dominant U.S. policy of "presumed consent"
C) Legal obstacles within the American death system
D) Lack of discussion among family members about one's wishes
E) Problems with determination of death

Question 27

State and explain the definition of death proposed by a presidential commission in 1981 and subsequently codified in the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA).

Question 28

When organ donation involves an individual who has experienced death as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage, this is an instance of:

A) Donation after cardiac death
B) Donation after brain death
C) Living donation
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 29

Federal and state estate taxes are best described as .

A) taxes on property left at death
B) taxes on beneficiaries
C) taxes on the transfer of property from a decedent to his or her beneficiaries
D) taxes on gifts
E) taxes on a person who dies

Question 30

An arrangement through which one transfers property to a third party with instructions for its distribution after death while retaining control over the property during his or her life is called a:

A) Will
B) Gift
C) Trust
D) Joint tenancy with right of survivorship
E) Codicil

Question 31

The more than 24 percent increase in the number of nonliving donors from 2003 to 2006 appears to have resulted primarily from:

A) The Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA)
B) The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA)
C) The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA)
D) The work of the National Donor Family Council (NDFC)
E) The Organ Donor Breakthrough Collaborative

Question 32

Which of the following is true in relation to organ donation and transplantation in the U.S.?

A) They are opposed by nearly all major religious communities.
B) "Brain dead" individuals might return to life.
C) Donation is likely to have a substantive effect on desired funeral practices.
D) Costs of transplantation are paid by donor families.
E) None of these

Question 33

Organ donation from living donors is advantageous because .

A) the donor can be extensively evaluated before donation
B) ischemic time is minimized
C) consent to donation is not needed from a substitute decision maker
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 34

Discuss methods used for determination of death.

Question 35

In relationship to organ donation, "first-person consent" means .

A) the same thing as "presumed consent"
B) that consent to donate must be obtained from the first next of kin
C) that an individual over 18 can make a legally binding decision to donate upon death
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 36

The National Donor Family Council has recommended that the approach to potential donor family members should be framed in terms of .

A) offering the opportunity of donation
B) harvesting organs
C) caring for a cadaver
D) requesting donation
E) All of these

Question 37

The phrase "holographic will" is used to describe .

A) the situation of a person who has died without a valid will
B) a codicil to a will
C) the circumstances of someone who has died intestate
D) a document that is handwritten and unwitnessed
E) an ethical will

Question 38

The process of administering and executing the disposition of a dead person's estate is done through .

A) a death certificate
B) a living will
C) a probate court
D) a durable power of attorney
E) a lawyer

Question 39

In the case of many non-living or deceased organ donors, after the individual has been pronounced dead, external support is often continued in order to .

A) keep the individual alive
B) preserve the quality of potentially transplantable organs
C) withdraw the opportunity for donation from next-of-kin
D) All of these
E) None of these

Question 40

If I want to donate bodily tissues and organs in the event of my death, what is the best thing to do to insure that outcome?

A) Include a statement of my wishes in my will.
B) Complete and sign an organ donor card.
C) Ask a clergyperson for advice.
D) Register my wishes with my state first-person consent registry.
E) Avoid discussing this matter with my next of kin.

Question 41

Compare and contrast "living organ donation" and "non-living organ donation." What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of each type of donation? How is consent to donate accomplished in each of these types of donation?

Question 42

Explain what it means to die "intestate." What are the consequences of dying intestate?
How might one alter this situation?

Question 43

Why is there a growing need for organ donation? What do you think are the best things that have been done to meet that need? What would you recommend be done to meet that need in the future? Explain your answer.

Question 44

Explain the distinction between determination of death and definition of death.
Why are traditional methods of determining when death has occurred sometimes inadequate?

Question 45

Describe what might typically be involved in estate planning.

Question 46

Distinguish carefully between a living will and a durable power of attorney in health care matters. Make plain what each of these can do, and what it cannot do. Offer a thoughtful reason to prefer one of these documents over the other.

Question 47

Define "death." Provide a thorough defense of the soundness of your definition.