Confidentiality In Healthcare

Although society is progressing in the direction of equal rights for adolescents, this change is not occurring as rapidly as it should. With state governments deeming all adolescents capable of making medical decisions without parental consent, and studies

Since then, adolescents lack of medical autonomy, or their personal right to make their own decisions, still does not receive the necessary attention in today's society of which it should. However, professors and doctors in the medical field

The four ethical principles of Beauchamp and Childress’s framework are essential in the medical decision making for adolescent patients. Those bioethics principles include justice, beneficence, non-maleficence, and autonomy (Ishibashi, Lewis, & Baker, 2016). Generally, all patients regardless of their age should be involved in their care along with their families. Moreover, patients are entitled to certain degree of autonomy or assent according to their cognitive levels, which involve self-determination of providing informed consent and accepting or refusing treatment (Ivey & Browen, 2012). For many years, there was a growing literature to support adolescences involvement in clinical decision making of their care. In 2000, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child added articles 12 and 13 states that all children have the right to convey their thoughts and express their opinion openly. Those articles obligate governments to establish reinforcement of autonomy. In light of the ethical and legal obligations pediatric health care providers modified the respect of minor’s autonomy principle. This modification addresses the developmental cognitive capacity in adolescent population to establish the legal responsibility of minor’s decision making. Adolescents intellectual growth and ability to analyze all the benefits, risks and treatment goals must be

The argument of whether or not medical confidentiality needs to be absolute or not sparks necessary discussions among doctors and ethicists. M. A. Crook addresses this issue in his article, The Risks of Absolute Medical Confidentiality, which discusses the holes in the argument that patient confidentiality should always be up kept. Crook presents detailed examples of scenarios in which confidentiality should have been broken, provides credible sources to support his opinion, and compares his points to other significant issues. Certain aspects of Crook’s argument enable it to be an overall well-written and persuasive article.

According to Dictionary.com confidentiality is “the right of an individual to have personal, identifiable medical information kept private.” The definition for this term is widely known in health care, but when it is applied to adolescents many people do not understand the basics. Doctors are responsible for informing adolescent patients and their parents the privacy a minor is given according to federal and state laws, but in some cases doctors fail to do so. This results in the misunderstanding of minor’s privacy rights, which can lead to the adolescent patient not disclosing significant information, and the parents assuming they have the right to all of their child’s medical records. Because of this, it is important for adolescents and their parents to understand the nature of confidentiality in health care.

In order to maintain the patient’s confidentiality (Data Protection Act 1998; Human Right Act 1998), he will be named John or Jonny for the purposes of the assignment.

The Negative disagrees with a passion the resolved “Adolescents ought to have the right to make autonomous medical choices.” Definitions will play a vital role within this debate as they themselves could be debated. I shall now attempt to provide objective and fair definitions. Adolescents is the “age which follows puberty and precedes the age of majority according to Black 's Law Dictionary. This vague definition gives way to the World Health Organization’s definition that states adolescents as “young people between the ages of 10 and 19 years.” But within the confides of the United States Justice System “you are a minor under the guardianship of your parents” until the age of 18 again according to the Black’s law dictionary. So for the sack of debate we will define adolescents as being any person between the ages of 10-17 beginning at the average age of puberty and ending before the individual becomes a legal adult under full constrains of the law. Ought is defined by Merriam Webster dictionary as to express obligation or natural expectation. To have the right is defined by Black’s Law dictionary as “A term applied to rights, privileges, and immunities enjoyed by all citizens EQUALLY and in common, and which have their foundation in the COMMON LAW. Autonomy is the “personal rule of the self that is free from both controlling interferences by ANY other party and from personal limitations that prevent meaningful choice,” according to University of California San

It’s no surprise that adolescents tend to withhold some of their personal information from their parents for a variety of reasons. When the health of the adolescent in concerned, on the other hand, how should the situation be handled? Teenagers are an extremely vulnerable population due to the many changes, stresses, and difficulties that they experience during their everyday life. This is the time in which adolescents value their privacy the most. The same goes for how they handle their medical situations. When they are just going in for a yearly checkup, a vaccine, or a common illness, most teenagers have no problem sharing the information with their parents to ensure that they are well taken care of. Also, teens typically rely on

Though this discussion is not as much about the medical community as it is the morality and confidentiality, I currently work per diem as a RN at a facility that audits user information and access routinely. Upon hire, I was told that in the year 2014 alone, 9 employees were fired for unauthorized access of medical records. Recently, my community has had many high profile cases, where both the victims and the accused have received medical care. Care received by these individuals have been accessed by individuals that have no use for it- not providing direct care. This is a real problem in the healthcare field, and those without the "need to know", but have access to information are inappropriately viewing this information. Curiosity , ignorance

There are many legal and ethical situations that healthcare providers will be faced with when providing medical treatment to either a child or an elderly adult. While there is often much discussion regarding the elderly and do not resuscitate orders, there are often times when the decisions for health care of a child may be overlooked. Some of the legal issues that may be faced by healthcare professionals are informed consent, confidentiality, reproductive services and child abuse. Patients have the right to decide what is done to their own bodies, but for children under eighteen, their parents decide for them. A major issue faced by healthcare professionals is parental refusal for treatment. Healthcare providers will be faced with many conflicting ethical and legal situations regarding refusal of a minor’s healthcare and treatment. These issues

Confidentiality is a concept of vast importance for professionals in the medical field. It is a professional obligation in this field and is considered to be an ethical concept that falls in line with integrity, compassion, veracity, charity, and fidelity as explained in both the International Council of Nurses Code for Nurses (1973) and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics (1985). However, in today’s ever growing world of technology and demand for information, challenges continue to arise that force doctors and nurses to reexamine virtues such as confidentiality.

The main focus of the article is to look at the absolute value of patients’ confidentiality. Blightman et al. look at the pros and cones of breaking patient’s confidentiality and conclude that a breached of confidentiality is in order when it is necessary to obtain consent, as required by law, or when it is in the best interest of the public. The article is useful to my subject, since it examines in details the main issues involving the safeguard of patients’ information. In addition, the authors define confidential information, looks at breaching confidentiality for consent, audits, protection of children, disclosure to family and friends, statutory disclosure, prevention of crime, public interest, public safety, public health, and disclosure to the media. The paper publication is Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain, which s a joint publication of the British Journal of Anaesthesia and The Royal College of Anaesthetists in the UK. It is also the official journal of The Faculty of Pain Medicine and The College of Anaesthetists of Ireland. Publication in such an esteemed journal requires utterly scrutinized of reliability and credibility of the information provided. I found the article educational and thorough in its coverage of aspects of breach of patient information. It is also well written and easy to understand.

Respect young patients' privacy. Some clinics restrict health record access by parents and guardians when a child a young as 10 has complicated medical issues related to STDs, AIDS/HIV and pregnancy. (Consult your legal team before implementing a minor privacy policy to ensure compliance with local, state and federal privacy statues.)

Healthcare administrators and those persons working in healthcare facilities have a legal and moral and ethical responsibility to safeguard the information of individual that are in their care, they also must find a balance in the healthcare services and then the business profits. Depending on the area in which an individual is working will depend largely on what code of ethics they will be bound to. There are different codes for specific fields for instances Administrators in public health care setting will follow the code of ethics established by the “American Public Health Association”

Adolescents deserve to make their own medical decisions when they prove they are cognitively ready. Examining and measuring cognitive capacity has been incredibly difficult because of the complexity and nature of the human brain. For simplicity, medical professionals could use the start of puberty to define adolescence, but that definition fails to account for the different rates at which adolescents mature. A recent study showcased how the logical reasoning center in the average adolescent’s brain is not fully developed. It revealed “the single biggest reason that adolescents give for avoiding necessary health care treatment [is] the belief that [their medical condition will] go away” (Arshagouni). To avoid these poor decisions and promote intelligent adolescent medical autonomy, parents, medical professionals, and adolescents must collaborate equally in discussing and deciding on a treatment plan. When an adolescent has intelligently considered and discussed their treatment options and the associated risks with their parents and physician, they have a right to make a decision about their healthcare.