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Ethical dilemmas confidentiality in health care
Confidentiality between patients and providers
Ethical dilemmas confidentiality in health care
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The situation being used is from a show called ER; when a nurse agrees to keep anything two girls tell her a secret. But when the secret turns out that they could be potentially spreading STD’s through their activities, the nurse tells their parents and their school. This results in the girls feeling betrayed and ostracized but everyone.
The issue being discussed is if the doctor is doing the right thing if they betray the patient to help them get better, or if they are doing the wrong thing since the patient only told that information under the promise of confidentiality. While maintaining confidentiality is very important in a physician-patient relationship there are some things that cannot be kept secret. Cases like child abuse or self/public
harm should be disclosed to the right authorities.
Cullen and Klein understand that deception is wrong and disrespectful to the patient but criticize that some cases are more complicated and not so black and white. They argue that physicians should be able to withhold information that can significantly benefit the patient. The key part is that the benefit is greater than what the deception causes.
A basic definition of confidentiality is that information about a patient is not discussed openly (Edge and Groves, 2007). This ethical principle became an issue when the government gave medical facilities lists of people who were in the study. Again, the patients were not informed that they would not be able to
Based on them, we can definitely eliminate options (c) and (d). Option (c) is against the principle of veracity and informed consent because the doctor was lying and hiding the information about the patient’s health that the patient was supposed to know. Option (d) is morally incorrect because the patient is lied to and the surgeon is not penalized. Option (b) does abide by the principle of veracity, but is against rationality because it sets negative example for the community that the doctors can be forgiven for their mistakes. Moreover, it does not abide by stewardship because the surgeon is taking advantage of being a doctor to conceal the truth. Consequently, the morally correct decision would be the option (a) because it abides by the principles of veracity and informed consent as the responsibility of disclosing the truth to the patient is fulfilled. Moreover, considering the rationality and stewardship, it will set an example for all the doctors that incomplete disclosure of information to the patient is unacceptable and the doctors should not take advantage of their importance in the
On October 27th of 1969, after returning home from a summer in Brazil, University of California at Berkley student, Tatiana Tarasoff was repeatedly stabbed and killed by a fellow classmate, Prosenjit Poddar. As tragic as the crime itself was, more tragic was the fact that it could have been prevented. Poddar had developed an unhealthy obsession with Miss Tarasoff during the year leading up to her death. Her continuous rejection of his advances sent him spiraling into a deep depression. He was encouraged by friends to seek treatment at the University’s student health center. During his course of therapy Poddar revealed to his counselor his intentions to kill Tatiana. Though the therapist did take steps to prevent the tragedy from occurring such as, asking for the weapon, calling campus security and requesting an emergency psychiatric evaluation, he failed to warn Tatiana herself, the intended victim. After her parents sued the University for negligence, the California Supreme Court ruled that “when a therapist determines, or should have determined, that a patient presents a serious danger of violence to another, the therapist then has a ‘duty to protect’ that third party” (Dimone & Fulero, 145-147). However, the Tarasoff doctrine is vague as written, given very little direction to practitioners in how to carry out their legal obligation while still remaining ethically responsibly to their client. A leading ethical challenge in the mental health profession today involves maintaining client confidentiality and protecting the public from harm (Corey Et Al, p. 230).
In “Should Doctors Tell the Truth?” Joseph Collins argues for paternalistic deception, declaring that it is permissible for physicians to deceive their patients when it is in their best interests. Collins considers his argument from a “pragmatic” standpoint, rather than a moral one, and uses his experience with the sick to justify paternalistic deception. Collins argues that in his years of practicing, he has encountered four types of patients who want to know the truth: those that want to know so they know how much time they have left, those who do not want to know and may suffer if told the truth, those who are incapable of hearing the truth, and those who do not have a serious diagnosis (605). Collins follows with the assertion that the more serious the condition is, the less likely the patient is to seek information about their health (606).
Truth in medicine is a big discussion among many medical professionals about how doctors handle the truth. Truth to a patient can be presented in many ways and different doctors have different ways of handling it. Many often believe that patient’s being fully aware of their health; such as a bad diagnosis, could lead to depression compared to not knowing the diagnosis. In today’s society doctor’s are expected to deliver patient’s the whole truth in order for patients to actively make their own health decisions. Shelly K. Schwartz discusses the truth in her essay, Is It Ever Ok to Lie to Patients?. Schwartz argument is that patients should be told the truth about their health and presented and addressed in a way most comfortable to the patient.
From the utilitarian’s side, lying might be a good choice, since it brings more happiness to the patient. In fact, truthfulness can actually do harm. Patient’s health situation becomes worst when he knows that he have a serious disease. He will become depressed and might suffer from psychological disorders like anxiety which reduces the efficiency of healing. For example people suffering from Nosophobia , Hypochondriasis or Nosocomephobia: “which are an irrational fear of contracting a disease, a fear of hospitals or refers to excessive preoccupancy or worry about having a serious illness ” are most likely to be affected by truth of having a serious ill or undergoing a dangerous medical operation. That’s why some doctors use lying as way of curing; they don’t try only to heal the disease, but also they make sure that the patient is in his most relaxed state, in order not to harm him. Roger Higgs in his article “On telling patients the truth” argues that doctors have no exemption from telling the truth. I other words, when a doctor lies he needs to give justifications. For the maleficence argument, Higgs argues that the truth actually does not harm; but the way the doctor tells the truth a...
In the modern era, the use of computer technology is very important. Back in the day people only used handwriting on the pieces of paper to save all documents, either in general documents or medical records. Now this medical field is using a computer to kept all medical records or other personnel info. Patient's records may be maintained on databases, so that quick searches can be made. But, even if the computer is very important, the facility must remain always in control all the information they store in a computer. This is because to avoid individuals who do not have a right to the patient's information.
Without patient confidentiality, patients would not be willing to tell about themselves or their family member for fear of it getting out (tTelegraph). If they were asked
Reid, D.D. Confidentiality In; Duncan, A.S., Dunstan, G.R., Welbourn, R.B. eds. Dictionary of medical ethics (2nd ed). London; Darton, Longman and Todd, 1981.
Patient confidentiality is one of the foundations of the medical practice. Patients arrive at hospitals seeking treatment believing that all personal information will remain between themselves and the medical staff. In order to assure patients privacy, confidentiality policies were established. However, a confidentiality policy may be broken only in the case the medical staff believes that the patient is a danger to themselves or to others in society. Thesis Statement: The ethics underlying patient confidentiality is periodically questioned in our society due to circumstances that abruptly occur, leaving health professionals to decide between right and wrong.
Disclosure of pertinent medical facts and alternative course of treatment should not be overlooked by the physician in the decision making process. This is very important information impacting whether that patient will go along with the recommended treatment. The right to informed consent did not become a judicial issue ...
The patient may as well advise the physician to withhold any truth from them, and the family consulted. However, this preference needs a critical thought out by the patient and should is respected. Lying or withholding information on prognosis violates the doctor-patient fiduciary relationship (Adlan, & ten Have, 2012). It does not benefit patients and erodes trust when they realize the deception. Some courts recognize physicians justified lies if it was to save human life, in case the information may have adverse effects on the
Within the field of psychology and mental health privacy, confidentiality and privilege plays a vital role in improving human health and lively-hood. Within the text is explain, “confidentiality in mental health practice stands in the background as an everyday issue” that has caused conflicts or stability when it comes to handling certain ethical issues.
The doctor patient relationship is an important connection. Doctor-patient confidentiality is based on the idea that a person should not care for medical treatment because they fear the state will share with others.