legal documents in which patients indicate what kinds of future medical treatments they will agree to should they later become incompacitated and therefore be incompetent to make treatment decisions for themselves.
breached duty
the violation of a duty that one party legally owes to another party
civil commitment
the legal proceeding by which a person who is mentally ill and imminently dangerous is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital
civil competence
the ability of an individual to act appropriately in such non criminal decisions as executing a will or determing medical treatment
compensatory damages
the payment or restitution owed to a plaintiff for the damages and harm that have been determined to have been caused by a civil defendent
dangerousness
behavior that involves acts of physical violence or aggression by one person against another
duty
the obligation that one party legally owes to another party
equivocal death analysis
the application of psychological procedures to determine whether the mode of death was accident, suicide, homocide, or due to natural causes
future best interest of the child
the legal standard by which most child custody decisions are made in the US
harm
the losses or adversities suffered by a person who is the victim of the wrongdoing
intentional behavior
conduct in which an actor means for the outcomes of his or her behaviors to occur
joint custody
a legal outcome in which divorcing parents share or divide various decision-making and control responsibilities for their children
malingering
the intentional fabrication or exaggeration of physical or psychological symptoms in order to gain an incentive or advantage
mediation
a form of alternative dispute resolution in which a neutral third party helps the disputing parties agree on a resolution to their conflict
negligence
behavior that fails to meet the legal standard for acting in a way that would protect others from unreasonable risks
primary caretaker standard
an alternative to the best-interest-of-the-child standard, in which the child goes with the parent who has been the primary care giver of the child
proximate cause
a cause that constitues an obvious or substantial reason why a given harm occured
psychological autopsy
an attempt to determine the mode of death via an examination of what was known about the deceased
punitive damages
financial compensation provided to a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit and assessed against a defendant to punish that defendant and to deter future misconduct by the defendant and others
risk assessment
the assessment of the probability that a person will behave violently in certain circumstances
sole custody
the awarding of custody to a child to one of the parents
testamentary capacity
having the mental capacity to execute a will when the will is signed and witnessed, including the capacity to resist the pressures or domination of any person who might try to exert undue influence on the distribution of the estate of the person writing the will
tort
a civil suit that does not involve a contract
validity scales
those measures whose goal is to access whether the test taker is telling the truth