An alert adult patient has refused an intramuscular injection. The nurse waits until the patient is asleep and gives the injection anyway. The nurse could be charged with:

• A. Civil battery
• B. Invasion of privacy
• C. Criminal assault
• D. Malicious homicide

Answer: (A)

Missing consent for a nonconsensual procedure is battery. When an injection is given to an alert patient who has refused it, the nurse engages in deliberate physical contact without the patient’s permission. The patient’s autonomy was overridden, and the act is intentional and offensive contact, which fits the tort of civil battery.

Invasion of privacy isn’t about touching a person; it concerns exposing or misusing private information. Criminal assault involves threatening or attempting to cause harm or creating fear of imminent harm; this scenario centers on actual contact without consent, and the patient was awake enough to refuse, so the element of fear or threat isn’t the focus. Malicious homicide is about causing death, which is clearly not relevant here.

So, the act described would be civil battery, exposing the nurse to potential civil liability (and possibly criminal charges in some jurisdictions, depending on circumstances), because it involves intentional, nonconsensual touching.