If a patient is physically harmed by someone touching them without permission, what type of abuse has occurred?

In this scenario, the type of abuse that has occurred is physical abuse. Physical abuse involves causing bodily harm or injury to a patient through actions that involve force or unwanted physical contact. When someone touches a patient without permission and causes them harm, this constitutes an act of physical abuse, as it directly relates to physical aggression or violence against the individual's body.

While emotional abuse and neglect are forms of mistreatment, they do not specifically pertain to physical harm through contact. Emotional abuse refers to psychological harm through verbal or non-verbal means, affecting a person's emotional wellbeing. Neglect involves failing to provide necessary care or support to a patient, which may lead to deterioration in health but does not involve direct harm through physical contact.

Assault, on the other hand, is a legal term that typically describes the act of making someone fear you will cause them physical harm. It can occur without physical contact, whereas physical abuse specifically refers to actual physical harm that occurs through contact. In this context, since the scenario describes a patient being physically harmed, the correct identification of this type of abuse is, indeed, physical abuse.