Certified Clinical Medical Assistant CCMA Practice Test

The MA drops an instrument on the floor while setting up a sterile tray for a procedure. He picks up the instrument and places it back on the sterile field. A few days after the procedure, the patient calls the office, concerned that the area surrounding the procedure site is infected. Which of the following torts has the assistant committed?

1. Assault

2. Battery

3. Negligence

4. Intentional infliction of emotional distress

The correct answer is: Negligence

The correct answer is negligence. This situation highlights a failure to adhere to accepted standards of practice, particularly in maintaining a sterile field during a medical procedure. The medical assistant's act of picking up an instrument that had fallen on the floor and placing it back on the sterile field compromises sterility and could introduce pathogens, increasing the risk of infection for the patient. Negligence in this context arises from the assistant's lack of care in ensuring that the procedure environment was sterile, leading to potential harm to the patient. The standard of care requires that all sterile instruments remain uncontaminated, and any deviation from this could result in infection, which is what occurred in this scenario. It's essential for healthcare professionals to follow strict protocols to prevent compromising patient safety. Other options such as assault and battery involve intentional acts, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress pertains to actions aimed at causing severe emotional trauma. In this case, the assistant's action stemmed from an oversight rather than any intent to harm, aligning the situation more closely with negligence.