If a procedure is performed on a patient who refuses consent, what can the phlebotomist be charged with?

When a procedure is performed on a patient without their consent, the phlebotomist could be charged with battery. This is because battery involves the unlawful and intentional touching of another person without their consent, often resulting in harm or offensive contact. In the context of healthcare, if a patient explicitly refuses a procedure and it is carried out anyway, this constitutes an act that violates the patient's autonomy and rights.

While negligence, assault, and fraud are also important legal concepts in healthcare, they don't apply in this specific scenario in the same way. Negligence involves a failure to exercise reasonable care that leads to injury or harm, but the core issue in this case is the lack of consent. Assault may refer to an act that puts a person in fear of harmful contact, but in this situation, battery is the more accurate term as it encompasses the actual unwanted physical contact. Fraud involves deceit or misrepresentation, which is not relevant when discussing the issue of consent in a phlebotomy procedure. Therefore, battery is the appropriate charge when consent is refused and a procedure is still performed.