Ethics: Legal And Ethical Issues In Nursing

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Nursing is about caring for individuals, ensuring privacy and safety along that process. Ethics is an indispensable component of nursing, and every nurse is accountable to maintain certain ethical standards. Disclosure of certain diseases such as HIV (Human Immuno- Deficiency Virus) or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) positive results often bring out shame and guilt, but it is essential for the patients to reveal this to their sex partners to protect them from the disease.
Legal and Ethical Position
Lena, being a health professional cannot share the HIV result of her sister’s boyfriend, wilfully to her sister as it is a legal offense per Cal. Health & Safety Code § 120980 (AIDS: HIV Reporting Act, 2006). As per revised ANA Code of Ethics, provision three, Lena also has the commitment to protect the patient’s rights to privacy even if that is her sister’s boyfriend (Olson & Stokes, 2016). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) restricts Lena from disclosing the boyfriend’s HIV information to her sister as this falls under patient’s protected health information and should not discuss without his consent (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 1996). …show more content…

Patients need counseling, education, and support in deciding whom and how to disclose the HIV status. Educating the patients on the significance of early disclosure to their sexual partners to avoid secondary prevention is needed. Counseling on methods of disclosure such as face to face, indirect or using the third party will give them strategies to take the first step towards the prevention and their treatment (Catona, Greene, & Magsamen-Conrad,

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