A nurse is teaching a class on torts. The nurse should include which of the following situations as an example of negligence?

A. Restraining a client for eating potato chips. This scenario describes an example of assault, which is a threat to perform physical harm or use unauthorized restraints. Threatening a client to coerce behavior violates their rights and the standards of professional nursing conduct. Negligence involves a failure to act, whereas this is an intentional tort involving an explicit threat of force. B. Dissolving medication in food without knowledge. Administering medication covertly to a competent client who has refused it constitutes battery. Battery is the intentional and unauthorized physical contact with another person, including the administration of unwanted treatments. Nurses must respect a client's right to refuse medication regardless of the clinical benefit of the drug. C. Applying restraints to prevent a client from leaving. This action is an example of false imprisonment, which involves the unlawful restraint or confinement of an individual against their will. An alert and oriented client has the legal right to leave the hospital at any time, even against medical advice. Physical or chemical restraints cannot be used to override a competent person's autonomy and freedom of movement. D. Reporting a loss of pulse hours after identification. Negligence is defined as a failure to provide the standard of care that a reasonably prudent nurse would provide in a similar situation. Delaying the report of a neurovascular emergency, such as an absent pulse in a casted limb, constitutes a breach of duty. This failure to act timely significantly increases the risk of permanent tissue damage or limb loss.