The nurse documents in a client's medical record: "The client is a drug addict and is always asking for more medication than what is necessary." With what might the nurse be charged?
1. Defamation
2. Slander
3. Libel
4. Incompetence
Correct Answer: 3
Rationale 1: Defamation is verbal communication that is false or made with a careless disregard for the truth and that results in injury to the reputation of a person.
Rationale 2: Slander is defamation by the spoken word.
Rationale 3: Libel is defamation of character by means of print, writing, or pictures. Putting a statement such as this in the client's medical record is, first, making a diagnosis, which the nurse is not qualified to do, and, second, making an assumption about the client's need for medication, which is a personal attitude about how the client responds.
Rationale 4: Incompetence relates to the ineffective or improper execution of nursing tasks.
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