FindLaw's Assault, Battery and Intentional Torts section provides information about the various acts that are considered intentional torts and the elements that a … Information and comments on Health Law Central or associated with it, should not be taken as, and do not constitute, legal advice. One of the reasons why confusion exists is almost certainly because the Commonwealth government has not sought to regulate the issue of restraint except insofar as requiring that certain assaults be reported. Under tort law, assault is the creation of fear of an imminent, impending, unwanted physical contact, and battery is the actual unwanted physical contact that results in harm or injury. 4. self-defence (no more force than necessary permitted), protecting another person (no more force than necessary permitted), defence of property (no more than what is reasonable and necessary), emergency (most likely in situations to save somebody’s life), necessity (although this usually relates to criminal prosecution; nevertheless has been mentioned in cases such as, ‘to teach a wrongdoer that tort does not pay’, serve to assuage any urge for revenge felt by victim. This is poor drafting at best, and the missing additional appropriate words are : “for the purpose of seeking informed consent” after the word “informed”. // . In considering issues of consent it is important to realise that where consent is absent a person will have a right to make a civil law claim for compensation due to the invasion of his or her right to bodily integrity, or restraint without lawful justification. It would not be a defence to imprison/restrain a person because a health practitioner thought it was for the person’s own good. We believe the elderly are undervalued, and we are doing everything we can to change that perception. A personal injury lawsuit won't be successful if the person being accused of assault or battery has a valid legal excuse for their conduct. The autonomy of the patient and the right to refuse to consent to medical treatment should be considered fundamental principles of medical law. There is a good deal of confusion about the rules surrounding and the law applying to restraint. Indeed, that this is the position confirmed by Dame Butler-Sloss in Ms B v An NHS Hospital,1 in which she reiterated her own assertions in Re MB (Medical Treatment),2 where she stated that “a mentally competent patient has an absolute right to refuse to consent to medical treatment for any reason, rational or irrational, or for no reason at all, even where that decision may lea… Battery is the intentional act of causing physical harm to someone. Note – the above discussion relates to civil law actions in trespass, which would be brought by an individual seeking compensation. The gist of the action of false imprisonment is the mere imprisonment. An assault comprises the threat of bodily contact with the person of another (not actual contact). And, these two torts can, and do, occur in health care delivery. Compensation: The Court may award a sum of money when there has been actual damage (harm/loss). Any reasonable threat to a person is assault while battery is defined as use of force against another with intent of causing physical harm without his consent. These legal claims involve assault, battery and false imprisonment. Meg Wallace LLB(Hons) is Senior Legal Officer in the The criminal law is also relevant to acts/omissions that a health practitioner may engage in that may injure or lead to the death of a patient. The offence carries a term of imprisonment. False imprisonment is a direct and intentional act by the Defendant that totally deprives the Plaintiff of his or her liberty without lawful justification. In other words, the act must be done voluntarily. A 20-year-old man is facing assault and battery charges after a video surfaced of him attacking a 75-year-old man at a nursing home in Detroit, police said. “… The fundamental principle plain and incontestable is that every person’s body is inviolate, and that any touching of another person, however slight may amount to a battery…”. An assault is any act — and not a mere omission to act — by which a person intentionally — or recklessly — causes another to apprehend immediate and unlawful violence: R v Burstow; R v Ireland [1998] 1 AC 147. This refers to situation where both an assault (attempting to injure or threatening to injure) and a battery (actually touching someone) occur in the same incident. Note also that the intent does not have to be to harm someone. Both charges are sometimes leveled simultaneously against a person and … The penalty ranges from 2 years imprisonment (with no actual bodily harm) to 5 … In some cases, criminal law prosecution may also apply. Assault is the charge which is against a threat of violence and battery is the charge against physical violence. It is noted here that assault, battery and false imprisonment are also crimes – and can be prosecuted in a criminal court. A tribunal has reprimanded an enrolled nurse and permanently disqualified him from applying for registration after he admitted to professional misconduct concerning an assault on a patient. Compensation is payable in civil cases. The law treats false imprisonment (which includes unlawful restraint), battery (which includes contact with another person without lawful excuse) as forms of assault. 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