41 Vignette 1 Assault and Battery A student and a staff radiographer were asked to per- form an intravenous pyelogram on a 58-year-old woman with hypertension. The staff radiographer, who was the department clown, ordered the student technologist to load two 50 cc syringes, one with contrast media, the other syringe with isopropyl alcohol. The staff radiographer left the x-ray suite, leaving the student with the patient. The radiologist came into the room and grabbed one of the syringes without checking the empty contrast media vial. The radiologist injected the patient. Upon completion of the injection, the patient immediately became comatose. The patient was sent to the Intensive Care Unit. Blood chemistry, which was later ordered, indicated that the patient had a high concentration of alcohol in her blood.. The radiologist was notified of the blood chemistry report by the patient's attending physician. The radiologist ques- tioned both the staff radiographer and the student. The student told the radiologist that he was ordered to load two syringes, one with contrast media and the other with iso- propyl alcohol. Who would be held liable for assault and/or battery? Vignette 18 Right of Privacy Situation Emma Insulator, R.T. is a staff radiographer at Cavitation Medical Center who has worked in the radiog- raphy department for two years. Recently, a new radiogra- pher, Ronnie Rheostat, R.T. has been hired to work the 3 to 11 shift. Emma Insulator notices that Ronnie Rheostat talks per- to all of the patients, asking them many questions of a sonal nature not related to the radiography procedure. One day Emma Insulator and Ronnie Rheostat were assigned to the same lunch period. While on the way to the cafeteria, the two radiographers were on the elevator and Ronnie Rheostat said that one of the patients, Silvia Sinewave, told her she had been living with a prominent surgeon who was on staff at Cavitation Medical Center and had an illegitimate child by him. Ronnie Rheostat contin- ued, nonstop, relating incidents about Ms. Silvia Sinewave. Emma Insulator was concerned about Ronnie Rheostat's monologue regarding Ms. Silvia Sinewave. There were other people on the elevator. Ronnie Rheostat seemed completely unaware of the other parties on the elevator. What, if any, legal implications are involved in this set of circumstances? E Tek 4, P Chapter 1 Vignette 2 Libel, Slander, Invasion of Privacy A sixteen-year-old female was admitted through the emergency room with lower abdominal pain. The patient was transported to the x-ray department for an abdominal series. The orderly noticed on the x-ray request form under "pertinent clinical information," the abbreviation PID. The orderly asked the staff radiographer what PID meant. The radiographer, jokingly, told the orderly that the patient had syphilis and ordered the orderly to wrap her up, as in an isolation procedure, for a communicable disease. The patient asked the orderly why she was being wrapped up with sheets and why the orderly was putting on gloves, mask, and isolation gown. The orderly told the patient that she had PID-syphilis, a communicable disease. On the way back to the x-ray department, the orderly sent a note to his friend in central service department that a young female patient, who happened to be in the same high school class, had been admitted into the hospital with syphilis. Meanwhile, the young female patient became very dis- tressed and told her father what the orderly had said to her. The father immediately contacted her attending physician to find out whether the daughter had syphilis. The doctor told the father that it was a mistake and that the orderly was wrong in telling the young girl that she had syphilis. Soon after the girl was treated and discharged from the hospital the father filed a civil suit against the hospital for defama- tion of character. Who, if anyone, was liable for slander? Libe!? Why? Was the patient's privacy invaded? ANTENN and Sund in li cn v du hun Pua