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Free NREMT practice questionsFree EMT practice questions · Operations

2 free EMT practice questions: Medical, Legal & Ethical Responsibilities

These are real questions from the same bank the app draws from. Each one is written to the NREMT EMT content specifications and kept inside the EMT scope of practice. Pick an answer and you get the full rationale, including why the other three options are wrong.

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Question 1 of 2

An EMS provider treated a patient at a car crash, and the patient later died at the hospital. The patient's family is suing that provider. What must the family prove?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Negligence

The family has to prove negligence. Negligence has four parts: duty, breach, causation, and harm. The provider had a duty to act. The provider breached that duty by not meeting the standard of care. The breach is what caused the patient's harm. The family has to prove all four parts to win the lawsuit.

Why the others are wrong

Abandonment: when a provider leaves a patient without handing care off to someone with equal or higher training. Nothing here says the provider left the patient. This lawsuit is about the care the provider gave.

Assault: putting a person in fear of immediate harm. Assault has nothing to do with whether the care met the standard of care. A lawsuit over a patient's death turns on the standard of care.

Malpractice: a professional doing something they should not have done. Negligence is failing to do something you should have done. Either way, what the family has to prove in court is negligence: duty, breach, causation, and harm.

Question 2 of 2

The EMT arrives at a cardiac arrest. A family member states the patient has a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) but cannot produce the document. What should the EMT do?

Show the answer and rationale

Correct answer · Begin resuscitation and resolve the DNR question at the hospital

Start resuscitation, because the family cannot produce the DNR. A family member saying a DNR exists is not enough to withhold resuscitation. You need the signed, valid document in hand. Cardiac arrest care cannot wait. Once the brain and heart go without blood flow for more than a few minutes, the damage cannot be undone. Start CPR and the rest of the resuscitation right away. Medical control or the hospital staff can sort out the DNR once the paperwork turns up or the family's account is checked.

Why the others are wrong

Withhold resuscitation based on the family's statement: Withholding resuscitation is right when a proper, signed DNR is produced and checked on scene. This family only says the DNR exists. Acting on that statement alone could deny the patient care the patient is entitled to.

Call medical control and follow whatever the family ultimately decides: Calling medical control for guidance is reasonable. Following whatever the family decides puts the family's wishes in place of the medical and legal rules. Family wishes cannot make up for a missing DNR document.

Wait until the document is found before beginning any care: Looking for the document makes sense while care is going on. Waiting to start care until the document turns up loses minutes in a cardiac arrest, and every minute of delay lowers the chance of survival. Start CPR now and have someone look for the document at the same time.

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