Deck 16: Legal Issues

Question 1

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, excluding 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 1

C

Question 2

In the United States, a coroner is required to be

A) a medical examiner
B) an adult citizen of his or her elective jurisdiction
C) a lawyer
D) a physician
E) a forensic pathologist

Answer 2

B

Question 3

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 3

A

Question 4

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 5

The Patient Self-Determination Act requiring that persons be informed of their right to execute an advance directive about wishes for care if they become incapacitated applies to

A) terminally-ill persons
B) acutely-ill persons
C) chronically-ill persons
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 6

The scope of a "durable power of attorney in health care matters" may 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 7

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 8

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

A) a medical examiner
B) a durable power of attorney
C) a court-appointed lawyer
D) a coroner
E) a forensic pathologist

Question 9

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 10

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 11

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 12

The person authorized 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 surrogate decision maker
E) an executor or executrix

Question 13

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) had legal force in the United States
C) stated the wishes of persons when their health status changed and they became incapacitated
D) acknowledged a desire to live and to receive all measures to prevent death
E) applied to individuals who are terminally ill

Question 14

As a result of the actions of Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu (as described in the vignette near the beginning of Chapter 16), 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 15

In most large U.S. cities, 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
B) a durable power of attorney
C) an appointed lawyer
D) a hospital emergency room
E) the police

Question 16

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 17

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 18

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 19

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 20

The "NASH" system has to do with

A) cultural information noted on a death certificate
B) benefits gained for survivors of a death
C) personal information needed on a death certificate
D) definition of death
E) the manner of death

Question 21

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 22

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 23

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 24

How many individuals in the U.S. now die each day while waiting for an organ transplant?

A) 2-3
B) 5
C) 7-8
D) nearly 13
E) approximately 18

Question 25

In the United States in recent years

A) numbers of organ donors and numbers of actual organ transplants have differed greatly
B) numbers of transplant candidates on the National Waiting List for a major organ transplant have increased greatly
C) numbers of organ donors have declined
D) an estimated 30,000-40,000 deaths could yield suitable donor organs
E) numbers of actual organ transplants have declined

Question 26

In 2009 in the United States living organ donors were

A) less than 2 percent of all donors
B) over 45 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 27

As of December 31, 2010, how many registrants were on the U.S. National Waiting List for major organ transplants

A) nearly 18,000
B) 27,000
D) almost 55,000
D) over 110,000
E) approximately 152,000

Question 28

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 29

Imagine a 28-year-old married woman with two children who is brain dead from a car accident. Without her written consent, consent 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 30

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 31

In the case of many non-living organ donors, after the individual has experienced brain death 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 32

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 33

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 34

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 35

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 36

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

A) means the same thing as "presumed consent"
B) means that consent to donate must be obtained from the first next of kin
C) 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 37

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 38

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 39

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) probate court
D) durable power of attorney
E) a lawyer

Question 40

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