Marcia Angell Argument Against Confidentiality

Confidentiality: Acknowledgement of the process of keeping trusted information private by the clinician, while distinguishing the reason for breaking one’s promise in keeping information secret; through written and verbal communication.

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.

Concepts of reasonable limits refers to limiting one’s actions or in reference to nursing, limiting what one can say or do in terms of a patient’s care (Jonstone & Fry, 2002). When discussing reasonable limits, a nurse has to take into consideration at what point is enough, enough. For example, in the case study regarding Mrs. Z, reasonable limit would prevent the nurse from pushing the patient further into pursuing treatment and disclosing her medical prognosis to her family. Mrs. Z is a lucid individual, so the nurse and doctor caring for her would have to limit their interference in disclosing information to her husband due to reasonable limits. In nursing, there are times when breaking a patient’s confidentiality becomes an ethical issue. If the nurse was thinking in terms of Utilitarianism, breaching confidentiality would be the only reasonable thing to do. For example, if a patient who is HIV positive is knowingly having unprotected sex in order to infect other people, it would only be right to break the confidentiality of their diagnosis to prevent further harm to other individuals in the future. Sometimes, in order to protect the greatest amount of people, confidentiality has to be broken. Another example where a healthcare individual can break confidentiality is if a minor is being harmed and the minor does not want to disclose to anyone their situation. For

19. According to the utilitarians, the beneficial consequences of maintaining patient confidentiality include the following:

Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas every day. There are a lot of different beliefs surrounding ethics and the code of ethics. Ethics and ethical issues have always existed, that is why they have put in place the code of ethics. The American Nursing Association (ANA) Code of Ethics isa guideline to help nurses determine which course of action to pursue. Every minute many ethical decisions are made, some may not comply with guidelines and others the patient’s will never understand. In this case study the nurse is put in an uncomfortable position and has two find a way to comply with the family, the patient, and the doctor’s orders.How can she report to the doctor the information the daughter has told her? How she approached

The nurse in the case study is faced with an ethical and professional, dilemma. How can she be an advocate for her patient Mr. E? Dr G. is proceeding on a course of action or plan of care that is directly contrary to the patients advance directive and his verbalized objections to the course of treatment proposed by the physician and that is concerning for her. There are multiple issues to consider. For the nurse, she needs to think about her code of ethics, her scope of practice and the legal issues regarding advance directives and Durable Power Of Attorney (DPOA). She also needs to consider the patients right to privacy and confidentiality. As with most areas and issues in modern healthcare the statues can be

As a member of a medical professional team, you will work closely with many physicians. As you have read this week, guarding the physician-patient relationship is serious business.In this assignment you will practice what you have learned in chapters 5 and 7 in the Medical Law and Ethics textbook: * Federal privacy laws that pertain to healthcare and the "Patient's Bill of Rights" * Privacy, confidentiality, and privileged communications * Filing birth and death certificates * Examples of communicable diseases which must be reported to local, state and/or federal

Confidentiality is considered a core value or principal in the medical practice. Confidentiality is a right that all people have within the medical field. This is the requirement of health care providers to keep a person’s information exclusive unless the patient or the person consents in the form of a release to share that information with other people that practice. Usually the consent is given when a doctor wants to consult with a different doctor for example. In this case it would be for the betterment of the person.

With the utilization of the Act-utilitarianism mindset, an alternative plan of action to focus on the circumstances surrounding Andrea and the community at large can be established using Uustals ethical decision making model. The nine steps identified by Uustal can allow the nursing process to be applied in an effort to guide the nurse in practicing proper judgment. The quandary involves community, personal and patient dilemmas. While many nurses strive for adhesion to values of patient autonomy and keeping ones word, the very nature of health care can raise cause for nurses to contradict and deviate from their own ethical stand points, all in an effort to do the right thing. Due to Andrea’s development of cervical cancer, nurse Hathaway was right in disclosing the minor’s disease to her parents. Adolescents usually are covered by their family’s insurance, but they may not have coverage for unaccompanied care, and they may

“Professional integrity derives its substance from the fundamental goals or mission of the profession” (Wakin, 1996, para. 15). Meaning to say, individuals seek for a professional’s valued and ethical advice to which the professional holds their responsibility to maintain and exceeds the level of their expertise. For example, a general practitioner will treat a variety of patients, from all different walks of life with a plethora of different problems. It is their duty to diagnose and treat the patient to the best of their professional ability without prejudice. Another aspect of their duties is the principle of patient confidentiality. Medical professionals are legally bound to not divulge any information provided to them by their patients.

Although confidentiality is considered to be of great importance in therapeutic relationship, one must not assume it to be independent. In particular, confidentiality ought to be compromised whenever it conflicts with a higher moral value, such as the duty to safeguard human life. Most often physicians do not know if to disclose the HIV status of their patients to known contacts or if failure to do so may give rise to liability if the known contact becomes HIV positive. This is one of the most controversial issues in reporting and partner notification

Evan and the other patients have a right to confidentiality; therefore, legally his HIV status cannot be disclosed to the other patients (HIV/Psychiatric manual, 1997). In assessing Evan's rights and the duties of the nurse, Evan has a right to confidentiality, trust, informed treatment decisions and quality care. An Bord Analtrais "Code of Professional Conduct" (2000) states that the nurse is obliged to dutifully undertake these rules. However, Claire's health and that of the former partner are at stake. The nurse will break the confidentiality and trust rules by telling Claire of Evan's illness. The nurse has a responsibility towards other professionals therefore informed decisions and quality care will not be carried out until information of Evan's HIV status is divulged. The last aspect of "Defining the Problem", is to recognise the main ethical problem to be addressed which is whether or not to dismiss patient-nurse confidentiality and trust in order to get adequate healthcare for Claire and Evan's other partner.

Confidentiality is central to trust between doctors, medical team and patients. Patients have a right to expect that information about them will be held in confidence. The birth of the Hippocratic Oath in the fourth century started the responsibility of physicians to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of their patients. One of the provisions of the Oath lays the ethical foundation for the physician’s duty of confidentiality even beyond the circumstances of medical care. The Florence Nightingale Pledge, which was composed in 1893, was a modification of the “Hippocratic Oath,” a statement of the ethics and principles of the nursing profession. Included in the pledge is to hold in confidence

Within healthcare, practitioners often have to make difficult decisions regarding the care of their patients. This could be to do with giving or withdrawing treatment, or as simple as sharing risk information (Glover, 1997). Ultimately, the practitioner must be able to rationalise any decision they have made (Morrison, 2009). With this in mind, the following assignment will draw upon an ethical dilemma and explore how theoretical perspectives can be utilised within the decision making process. Therefore it will also be pertinent to draw upon the law, and how this influences actions within health care. To facilitate this discussion, I will identify a scenario from practice that

In medicine one of the things every patient is entitled to, no matter what, is their privacy. Since ancient times the privacy between a doctor and a patient has been somewhat of sacred thing. The patient has the right to release their health information to whomever they please. Even for doctors to access a patient’s medical history there has to be consent from the patient. In Mair’s article she reports about the case PD v Harvey in which PD upon asking for her future husband’s (FH) HIV test results was denied access because of lack of consent from FH. FH because of his right to confidentiality, despite having the disease, was able to lie and forge a pathology report which reported his HIV status as negative and in turn PD was lead to believe that FH actually received a negative result. If PD had been allowed the right to view the positive result or maybe even if the doctors would have taken into consideration her well-being PD could have avoided being infected (2009). Before testing a patient for HIV/AIDS a doctor should consult the patient in this consultation the patient should be educated about the disease, the testing process, and actions to be taken upon a positive result, including disclosure to sexual