When A Patient Walks Into A Health Care Center, Their Doctor

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.

In the piece “Invasions” by Perri Klass the narrator addresses issues that result when doctors learn of the secrets of patients and how they feel the need to invaded patients’ privacy.

that they dosage is safe. If physicians skip this step, it may lead to more harm then good.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a brilliant set of laws put into place to protect patients’ privacy rights. These laws are extremely tedious, covering every single aspect of privacy rights, what is considered a breach of privacy, and what happens to the individual who commits this breach. When looking at the legal consequences given to those who break HIPAA laws, they are no slap on the wrists. HIPAA violations can lead to fines in the millions and even jail time for so much as a peak at a patient’s private documents. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

In today’s world of technology patient’s face an ever challenging issue of protecting their privacy. One of the biggest areas infringing on a patient’s privacy would be the prescription health information that is being released by pharmacists and the way in which that information is used. Information is given to a wide variety of entities and to individuals, which raises enormous concern about the privacy rights of patients, especially considering the fact that the patient has not given consent for the release of this information.

Confidentiality in the Healthcare arena can be simply defined as the moral and ethical duty of the Practitioner to keep all the patient’s bio-data under lock and key, and offer a disclosure of those facts that the patient is legally mandated to disclose or deems fit to enhance their positive health outcome. According to the Segen’s Medical Dictionary, “Confidentiality is the ethical principle that a physician may not reveal any information disclosed in the course of medical care, unless the patient who disclosed that information poses a threat to him, herself or others’’

It doesn't only affect the health of the patient, but the overall cost of the system. Preventative medicine only cost a fraction of a full blown disease, which means it would still cost a lot for a patient to deal with in the end. (Messerli) Thinking about this, it shows that if the preventative care of testing would lower the cost of the medical bills. But also, how would they pay for the bills in the first place? Both preventative care cost and the overall cost without getting the care would equal out, because the patient couldn't pay for it either way. It would just put them in debt.

This is where the doctor can order perscriptions and send them to the pharmacy without writing out a prescription and giving them a paper to bring to pharmacy. Also will help make sure that there are no forgery with any of orders. That way the patient doesn’t lose it as well.

2. Physicians will see increased compliance of the drug in their patients as the drug is not patient administered but provider administered. Will limit the variations in dosing patterns and practices. Provide alternatives for treatment. Improve revenue as it is administered in the office rather than at home.

It can help you and your health care provider know how to adjust your medicines.

Health care professionals are subject to a multitude of professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities which call for personal judgment to be utilized in such a manner as to protect clients as well as public wellness and interests. Overall considerations in handling such duties may be considered to be respect of a client’s autonomy, confidence, and recognition of obligations owed to all clients. While the aforementioned acts fall within the professional realm, there are also legal implications that guide care. Therefore, it can be said that ethical considerations occur in observation of legal responsibilities. Confidential information is perceived as private facts which are disclosed with the

Have you noticed that doctors often are so quick to test patients with numerous labs and imaging? Are they always necessary? For example, through evidence-based practice it’s been shown that when a patient comes in with back pain more often all they need is physical therapy, not a STAT CT. Often providers feel they must do everything due to threats of possible legal actions. Cost containment could be also difficult because of patients itself. Because of never ending TV commercials, TV shows, and health magazines people start diagnosing themselves and demanding excessive test and diagnostics. Demanding certain tests or medications when there is no diagnostic reason increases costs to healthcare.

In this paper, I will discuss the principles that permit disclosure of protected health information with or without the patient’s consent for each of the four categories, government agencies, legal agencies or representatives and research groups. I will also state whether I feel privacy safeguards are adequate to support those principles.

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

Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society. Safeguarding those rights, with respect to an individual’s personal health information, is our ethical and legal obligation as health care providers. Doing so in today’s health care environment is increasingly challenging (OJIN, 2005).