Define "civil battery" in healthcare.

Civil battery in healthcare is best defined as intentional harm causing injury. This legal term refers to a situation where there is an unlawful physical act against another person, which may or may not cause actual injury, but does involve contact that the patient did not consent to. In the context of healthcare, civil battery can occur when a healthcare professional performs a procedure on a patient without proper consent, or when actions are taken that the patient has not agreed to, leading to an infringement on the patient's physical autonomy.

The focus here is on the intent behind the action. Even if the healthcare provider did not intend to cause harm, the act of performing a procedure without consent constitutes battery. This violation can lead to legal repercussions for the healthcare provider, emphasizing the ethical obligation to obtain informed consent before any treatment or intervention.

While the other options touch on important concepts in healthcare law and ethics, they do not accurately capture the definition of civil battery. Unintentional wrongful contact leading to harm refers more to negligence rather than intentional actions, neglect in providing care pertains to failures in duty rather than battery, and failure to document patient consent is a documentation issue that may support a claim of battery but is not a definition of the term itself.