Patients' Rights Essay

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In doing so, he pays particularly close attention to black patients and their relations with health care policies and practices. Smedly maintains that blacks are not only the victims of, inpatient and outpatient treatment, racial policies, and other services but also the victims of its consequences. He argues that many health care administrators are agents to a system of inequality that support provider and administrator biases, geographical inequalities, and racial stereotypes (Smedly 2012).

In Nursing, there will always be instances where the patient's nurse needs to advocate for their patient. There are numerous reasons why a nurse would advocate for their patient ranging from getting the doctor to change the patient’s orders, helping the patient’s treatment team understand what it is the patient is requiring for the day, to expressing the patient’s last wishes before death. In every situation, the nurse should do what is in the patient’s best interest. Tomajan (2012), “Advocacy skills are the ability to successfully support a cause or interest on one’s own behalf or that of another. Advocacy requires a set of skills that include problem solving, communication, influence, and collaboration”(p. 2). With those skills, the

Patient’s fifth right is for respect and care without discrimination from all members in the healthcare field. The right to confidentiality and privacy of their health information is sixth on the bill of rights and addresses their right to read, copy and request corrections to their medical record, to talk privately their medical providers and be assured their healthcare information is secure. The seventh right is for patients to have a “fair, fast, and objective review of any health care complaints” (Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, 1998). And finally our eighth right as patients are our responsibilities we have as the consumer of healthcare services. Patients need to comply with the orders of the medical provider so they can get and stay well. As a patient you must treat other patients and healthcare workers with respect, pay your medical bills in a timely manner, and abide by your selected healthcare plans coverage. As patients become more involved in the total healthcare process they increase the success of their treatment while assisting in lowering associated costs without a reduction in the quality of the healthcare they receive.

You have the right to get health care services in a way that respects your culture, race, color, age, disability, religion, gender, gender identity,

Sule stated that, “The Patient Bill of Right adopted by American Hospitals Association states that ‘a patient possesses the right to be informed of the medical consequences of his or her actions and decisions and refuse treatment to the extent permitted by the law’. However, this is true only if the patient is in position to understand the consequences of his treatment. Incompetent, senile patients neither have the correct judgment regarding which treatment is appropriate for them, nor are they in a state of understanding the implications of their treatment. In such case, their willingness to grant or deny consent cannot dictate the course of treatment.” Problem with the Act is being able to find that the patient component enough to make such a call. Another issue that Sule stated was on confidentiality and autonomy. According to Sule, “This is another ethical issue erupting from the conflict of patient's rights and professional ethics in nursing job and profession. The Patient Bill of Right makes it mandatory for the medical practitioners to reveal the form and extent of the ailment along with the course of treatment to be undertaken by the practitioners. However, this law of autonomy clashes with the nursing ethic that the professional should maintain high degree of confidentiality regarding the patient's health and treatment.” This can cause conflicting issues in the NP’s

a) Select three of the patients’ right below a. Rights to choose a GP b. Rights to hospital treatment c. Rights to refuse treatment d. Rights to opt out of summary care recordsExamine their meaning as applicable to the NHS Constitution or alternative national guidelines………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has generated immense controversy amongst the American political spectrum over the past eight years. Most commonly known as the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, this law sought to provide health insurance coverage to more Americans and reduce the growth of healthcare spending in the United States. The Democratic Party, led by the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, argued that providing and extending health insurance coverage to millions of uninsured Americans would reduce the rising cost of healthcare through implementation of the individual mandate and promotion of competition in the healthcare exchanges. The Republican Party, led by House Minority Leader John Boehner, argued heavily against those in favor of the Affordable Care Act alleging the law would substantially increase insurance premiums and overall healthcare cost. The opposition also questioned the constitutionality and ethics of enacting the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law seven months prior to the Republican landslide victory in the House of Representatives in November of 2010. This paper will give a brief history of healthcare reform in America and deconstruct the ethical considerations surrounding the foundation of the Affordable Care Act.

As healthcare providers, maintaining a patient’s confidentiality, human dignity and privacy is expected at all times. Nurses are faced with maintaining patient confidentiality on a daily basis. The Coded of Ethics for Nurses is the framework of nonnegotiable ethical standards and obligations that all nurses are to uphold. Nurses are to be accountable for their actions and are expected to advocate and strive to protect the rights, health and safety of patients (American Nurses Association, 2011).

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.

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

According to Healthy People 2012 there are more then 800,000 new cases of diabetes each year, with the numbers on the rise. With this in mind, Healthy People 2012 has identified diabetes as their number five focus area. In order to reach their goal of improving the quality of life for people with diabetes they have identified diabetes teaching as their number one objective. Furthermore, in order to reduce the number of complications of diabetes, Healthy People 2012 has identified foot ulcers as their ninth objective. Through patient education Healthy People 2012 hopes to reduce the number of foot ulcers in people with diabetes, as diabetes is the number one cause of nontraumatic amputations in the United States. In order to

Patient’s Bill of Rights essentially guarantees treatment to the recipient, as well as all full disclosure, and consent to care. This illustrates that the power and level of care is in the individuals hands. Furthermore, a new Bill of Right was enacted with the Affordable Care Act in 2010 much of what was outlined gave new patients protection against insurance company’s (“Rights” 1). This is important because it only strengthens the

A twist on the "patient's perspective" approach is to describe a time when medicine failed to save or heal someone close to you. The purpose of this tactic would not of course be to rail against the medical profession, but rather to show how a disappointing loss inspired you to join the struggle against disease and sickness.

The correlation of increased potential patient rights violations and sensitive personal health data among electronic medical records than paper records is growing at an alarming rate. An estimated 52,000 public comments was reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring privacy regulations governing individually identifiable health information since the passage of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPPA). The individually identifiable health information includes demographic data that relates to the individuals past, present, or future physical or mental health condition. In addition, the provision of health care rights of the individual, confidentiality, protection of