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Ethics and confidentiality in healthcare
Ethics and confidentiality in health care
Ethics and confidentiality in healthcare
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Doctor patient confidentiality, is a fundamental element of the practice of medicine. Patients can expect that doctors and their support staff will hold confidential information about them in confidence, unless the release of the information is required by law or for public interest reasons. Ensuring confidentiality is retained allows doctors to examine their patients and receive all relevant information about their condition without a worry of judgement or sharing of the information. On the 7th of May 2017 the NSW Government made a controversial announcement by declaring that the state’s doctors have been given the power to report patients to welfare services without their consent when they suspect they may be victims of domestic violence. …show more content…
Such complications relate to training and skills, varying state laws and inconsistent responses from authorities and absence of accessible advice and support. It appears that New South Wales move to introduce this reporting may face the same fate, particularly with the resistance from medical professionals. While not been mandatory to report victims will be aware that it will be a possibility they may be reported without their consent. The New South Wales Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assult Pru Goward defends the program stating; ‘Many domestic violence victims do not report the violence they are experiencing to police or other specialist services, but they do seek medical attention and help from their GPs’. This however raises the question of will this program take away the one safe, trusted place victims could go for support without the worry of judgement or …show more content…
The guidelines outline that patients should be encouraged and supported about their health and use the information wisely to make decisions. Perhaps rather than encourage reporting with or without consent, a step to provide General Practitioners with additional tools to support domestic violence victims may have been a better option. The danger of implementing a reporting tool like this is that victims will withdraw completely and they will no longer feel completely safe to express themselves anywhere. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners provides clinical guidelines to assist General Practitioners when it comes to abuse and violence. General Practitioners are trained to handle and assist with domestic violence scenarios, imposing the question of non-consent reporting on delicate victims hinders General Practitioners rather than supporting
After being sexually assaulted, a victim herself, Annalise Mabe, on her article “You should have been more careful: when doctors shame rape survivors”, expressed her anger and concerns towards how doctors approach patients that have been sexually assaulted. Her explanation and tone make her seem trustworthy and credible.
Lipley, N. (2001) Whistleblower who wrote to newspaper wins tribunal. Nursing Standard. 16 (12), p. 4.
This paper will examine This paper will examine the Confidentiality and Doctor Patient Relationship .In the rules of law and ethics that information between the doctor and patient should stray confidential the physician should not leak confidential information that the patient did not want this information revealed to others, confidential between the patient and the doctor is very important. It is based on trust and if these are the information were not protected will cease to trust in the doctor-patient relationship would be diminished. Patients should be informed about the information being held about to them, why and how they may be shared, and who may be shared with
Domestic violence can be described as any form of abuse towards a victim, whether physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, psychological, or economical. The stakeholders in such violence are the abuser(s), the victim(s) and the bystander(s), all of whom are affected in some form or another by the abuse. For further clarity, domestic violence in this discussion refers to situations where the principle stakeholders, i.e. abuser and victim are in a relationship, for example partners, co-workers or friends. Domestic violence affects all stakeholders, not only the victim but the abuser and bystanders, and it can be easily prevented.
Domestic violence is a terrible curse to all those involved. It inflicts harm on the victim, the perpetrator and witnesses, whether they be children or not. While support services have long been available to assist women and/or children overcome any issues that arise as a result of domestic violence, these services have left out a significant portion of victims, those that are male. In 2012 The Australian Bureau of Statistics found “That 33.3 per cent of victims of current partner violence during the last 12 months were male” (ABS, 2012) and “37.1 per cent of victims of emotional abuse by a partner during the last 12 months were male” (ABS, 2012). This shows the amount of victims that are being left behind by domestic violence support networks in their current state, despite their good intentions. For such a painful and difficult time it is not adequate to leave one third of those suffering behind.
The medical Profession recognizes that patients have a number of basic rights. These include but are not limited to the following: the right to reasonable response to his or her requests and need and needs for treatment within the hospital's capacity. The right to considerate, respectful care focused on the patient's individual needs. The right of the patient to make health care decisions, including the right to refuse treatment. The right to formulate advance directives. The right to be provided with information regarding treatment that enables the patient to make treatment decisions that reflect his or her wishes. The right to be provided upon admission to a health care facility with information about the health care provider's policies regarding advance directives, patient rights, and patient complaints. The right to participate in ethical decision making that may arise in the course of treatment. The right to be notified of any medical research or educational projects that may affect the patient's care. The right to privacy and confid...
Countries such as the United Kingdom have laws in place to assist victims of domestic violence access legal aid in order to break free from abusive partners (Government, 2012). Such laws have come under criticism for making the barriers too high for most women who are victims of domestic violence (R v The Lord Chancellor& Secretary Of State For Justice, 2014).
There are many sad scenarios that come to mind when thinking about the victims of domestic violence. With this particular issue, the victims are impacted mentally and physically. A situation that comes to mind is one of a little boy hiding under his bed. He is in a neighboring room and can hear furniture moving and screams of his mother in agonizing pain. He understands that he is too small to intervene on his mother’s behalf and too scared to confront his father. What is he left to do? The young boy calls 911 with the hopes that they could step in and end his mother’s pain. The boy’s father repeatedly abused his mother and insisted that she stay in her place and never considers ending the relationship. This fictional situation is one that occurs everyday in every corner of our country. Domestic violence incidents in 2005 accoun...
Patient physician privilege refers to confidential discussions between a patient and the doctor. This information are meant to be kept confidential and on no account should it be disclosed even under oath in the
Schwartz, Melissa. “When Closeness Breeds Cruelty: Helping victims of intimate partner violence”. American Nurse. 14 June 2007.
As stated in the previous quote, confidentiality is an important concept in medicine and many other different professions. In technical terms, confidentiality is the right of an individual to have personal, medical information kept private (p. 62). It is especially important in the health care profession because as a health care professional, individuals are responsible with the personal information of their clients and are obligated to keep that information from those who it does not concern.
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 ...
Laws and regulations state there are no exceptions to disclosing information of a patient without consent. If a patient gives consent to a family member the healthcare provider may devise a code to give family members so they may confirm their identity.
Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes. First of all, the most important tool we have available against this type of crime are the authorities, which include the police department, hospital, and social workers. If they manage to work together as a team to make the whole process of protecting a victim more efficient, it will encourage victims to actually phone for help.
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.