Deck 16: End of Life Issues

Question 1

The act or practice of painlessly putting to death a person suffering from an incurable condition is ___________.

A) murder
B) informed consent
C) misdemeanor
D) euthanasia

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The removal of nasogastric feeding tubes from a mentally competent patient to legally hasten death has been described as ___________.

A) informed consent
B) passive euthanasia
C) active euthanasia
D) aiding suicide

Answer 2

B

Question 3

An order written by a physician and placed on the medical chart of a patient, indicating that in the event of a cardiac or respiratory arrest, no resuscitative measures should be employed to revive the patient is a/an ___________.

A) informed consent order
B) euthanasia order
C) DNR order
D) active euthanasia order

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The first state to enact living will legislation was ___________.

A) New York
B) Oregon
C) New Mexico
D) California

Question 5

Euthanasia originated from the Greek word euthanatos, meaning ___________.

A) good death
B) suicide
C) happy life
D) manslaughter

Question 6

The ___________ held in June 1990 that the U.S. Constitution does not forbid Missouri from requiring that there be clear and convincing evidence of an incompetent's wishes as to the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment before removing such treatment.

A) U.S. District Court
B) U.S. Supreme Court
C) Missouri Supreme Court
D) U.S. Court of Appeals

Question 7

The ___________ of 1990 provides that patients have a right to formulate advance directives and to make decisions regarding their health care.

A) Patient Self-Determination Act
B) Right to Die Act
C) Euthanasia Act
D) Substituted Judgment Act

Question 8

A ___________ permits one individual, known as the "principal," to give to another person, called the "attorney-in-fact," the authority to act on his or her behalf.

A) durable power of attorney
B) consent form
C) living will
D) contract duces tecum

Question 9

The ___________ published a report outlining the symptoms of an irreversible coma.

A) World medical Association
B) Harvard ad hoc committee on brain death
C) National Institute of Health
D) Kennedy Institute of Ethics

Question 10

___________ are instructions given by individuals specifying what actions they want taken for their health in the event that they are no longer able to make healthcare decisions as a result of illness or incapacity.

A) Do Not Resuscitate orders
B) Euthanasia agreements
C) Advance directives for health care
D) Health Care Proxies

Question 11

If a patient has been informed that without a blood transfusion she will die, she refuses blood, and the court orders the transfusion, the order is wrong based on the patient's right ___________.

A) to privacy
B) to life
C) to bodily self-determination
D) to freedom of religion

Question 12

The ___________ strives to provide viable alternatives that will lead to the optimal resolution of many difficult dilemmas facing patients, including end-of-life issues.

A) medical board
B) ethics committee
C) conflict resolution committee
D) community outreach committee

Question 13

The In re Quinlan case was so significant because

A) Karen Ann Quinlan was in a coma and could not make her own decisions
B) the court determined that every adult of sound mind has a right to determine what should be done to his or her body
C) the case was the first to seriously address the issues of whether euthanasia should be permitted when a patient is terminally ill
D) the patient can be operated on without giving informed consent, even if in a coma

Question 14

___________ is a form of surrogate decision-making where the surrogate attempts to establish what decision the patient would have made if that patient were competent to make a decision.

A) Living Will
B) Substituted judgment
C) Durable Power of Attorney
D) Do not resuscitate order

Question 15

In a departure from the Quinlan decision, the necessity for court intervention, and an incompetent's right to refuse treatment, this case decided that judicial proceedings should take place only when medical treatment can offer a reasonable expectation of cure or relief from the illness.

A) Saikewicz
B) Satz v. Perlmutter
C) John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital v. Bludworth
D) In re Dinnerstein

Question 16

The cases dealing with euthanasia lead to the public, courts, and religious groups wanting to know the legal definition of death. In 1974, the AMA accepted death as ___________.

A) the cessation of all heart function
B) when a person is in a persistent vegetative state
C) the cessation of all brain function including the brain stem
D) when a person has a terminal illness with no chance of survival and certain death is imminent

Question 17

In order for courts to determine that an incompetent person desired to decline extraordinary medical care, that desire would be best served if the patient ___________.

A) failed to appoint a surrogate decision-maker
B) executed a living will
C) signed a do not resuscitate order while unconscious
D) allowed the physician to make the decision

Question 18

If a person is comatose and incompetent to express their right to refuse medical treatment, those appointed to render their best judgment concerning how the patient would assert that right would be doing so under ___________.

A) the substituted judgment doctrine
B) designated power of attorney authority
C) agency authority
D) fiduciary authority

Question 19

Once a ___________ is executed by a competent patient and filed with the hospital, it will allow the hospital to withdraw life support from a patient who falls into an irreversible coma.

A) durable power of attorney
B) healthcare proxy
C) living will
D) last will and testament

Question 20

Physician assisted death is an example of ___________.

A) active euthanasia
B) passive euthanasia
C) suicide
D) patricide

Question 21

Dr. ___________ claims to have assisted in the suicides of 130 patients who had suffered tormenting pain for years.

A) Derek Humphrey
B) Timothy Quill
C) John Grossman
D) Jack Kevorkian

Question 22

Physician assisted suicide became legal for the first time in ___________.

A) Washington
B) Oregon
C) Massachusetts
D) Florida

Question 23

___________ is the legal mechanism by which a court declares a person incompetent and appoints a person to act in his/her best interests

A) In loco parentis
B) Power of attorney
C) Guardianship
D) Agency

Question 24

In the Florida Terry Schiavo case, where the patient had no "living will" and was in a persistent vegetative state, her spouse/guardian had her feeding tubes removed against her parents' wishes and the state took their side. The final outcome of the case emphasizes ___________.

A) courts exist to preserve the rights of individuals even if contrary to popular will
B) the legislative branch can supersede the judicial necessary to protect an individual
C) a guardian's decision can be overruled if it's determined not to be what the patient would have wanted
D) the governor has a right to step in and enact an emergency law to protect life

Question 25

Withdrawal of treatment should be considered ___________.

A) if restoration of cardiac function will last for a brief time
B) when balancing the interests of various family members
C) based on age
D) based on individual physician preferences

Question 26

Any glimmer of uncertainty as to a patient's desire in an emergency situation should be ___________.

A) resolved by contacting family members prior to making any treatment decisions
B) resolved in favor of preserving life
C) resolved by providing a blood transfusion regardless of religion and need for such a transfusion
D) resolved by providing minimal care

Question 27

The number of people who will die this year due to lack of organ donations is estimated to be ___________.

A) approximately 570 people
B) 150 people
C) thousands of people
D) less than 1,000

Question 28

In a case where a new drug of unknown effectiveness was administered to a patient at a navy medical center despite other known and effective drugs being available and injury resulted, the navy was held liable because ____________.

A) of the hospital's importance in the care of military patients
B) it failed to warn the patient of the risks involved in administration of the drug
C) it should have used the known, less risky drug
D) it was reasonably foreseeable that injury could occur

Question 29

Federal regulations require hospital-based researchers to obtain the approval of a(n) ___________ prior to conducting clinical trials.

A) ethics committee
B) medical board
C) governing body
D) Institutional Review Board

Question 30

_____________ are genes or DNA sequences with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify specific cells and diseases, as well as individuals and species.

A) genetics
B) stem cells
C) genetic markers
D) gene map