Many times a doctor or nurse feel pressured to protect the right to their patient’s confidentiality. It is a duty of a doctor that he cannot reveal his patient’s health condition to anybody. However, if he followed that rule, he is not warning patients’s loved ones about this deadly disease that they can get from a HIV individuals. Many times HIV positive people engage in sexual acitivites with their partners because they do not tell them about their HIV infection. In this way, HIV infection is spreading day by day and health care professionals often feel it is their duty to warn against this life- threatening disease to their loved ones. However, because of the patients confenditionally rights doctors are often fail to warn about this deadly
The patient described in this paper will be referred to as Jonathan Toews to ensure patients confidentiality. Jonathan Toews, is a sixty three year old man, born on August 23rd 1956, and lives with his eldest son. He was married two times and has three children, two children from his first marriage and one from his second. He lives in northern Ontario but originally was not born here, he moved here shortly following his second divorce. He is of Italian decent and is a practicing catholic. The patient weights 95kgs, is 178cm tall and has a body mas index (BMI) of 28.3. He said he used to play soccer when he was younger but since does not keep active or get the recommended amount of daily activity. Jonathan says he smokes around one pack or cigarettes a day and has a alcoholic drink roughly three to four drinks per week, he also describes that he eats fast food a few times a week. The patient now has congestive heart failure as a consequence of his MI. He was transferred from another hospital at the beginning of November and currently is waiting for more testing before he can be discharged from the hospital or moved to another facility. The patient has some known comorbidities that can exacerbate his CHF, this includes smoking, obesity, and noncompliance with medications.
In this argument a 21 year old Hispanic male named Carlos is in the process of being released from the hospital and in need of a at home nurse. Since Carlos did not have the best insurance they would not pay for a at home nurse because Carlos sister is a nurse. The only problem that Carlos has with this situation is that he is HIV positive and does not want his family to find out. Carlos contracted HIV from sexual intercourse with males and Carlos does not want his family to know because it would be a disgrace to the family. In order for Carlos’s sister not to find out, Carlos asked his doctor not to inform his sister about the HIV. The argument is whether Carlos’s doctor be morally justified to breach the patient confidentiality on the grounds that he has a “duty to warn”?
HIPAA confidentiality is important for very patient but for some reasons when they hear someone has HIV or AIDS it gives them the right to talk about it with others which have no reason to know. I will show why it is so important to be sensitive to this type of health conditions. Will examine the social, legal, and ethical ramifications of improper information disclosure.
In the patient confidentiality case of Carlos, a 21 year old Hispanic male is being discharged from his hospital stay for a gunshot wound. Carlos is intended to receive nursing care at home from his sister, Consuela. Carlos is secretly a homosexual and is concerned that his secret will be revealed and be disgraced by his family. Carlos pleaded with his physician not to inform his sister that he is HIV-positive. Not informing Consuela would seem to increase her risk of contracting HIV while attending to Carlos’ wounds. The ethical issue is whether Carlos’ physician is justified in breaching confidentiality on the grounds that he has the “duty to warn”
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.
It becomes more difficult to take the most ethical course of action when HIV or AIDS is encountered given that they have own ethical issues (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2000). Many such patients desire to avoid pubic judgment because of the fact that HIV can be transferred through sexual activity and by sharing drug equipment. They need their privacy to be maintained and their problem to be solved, therefore professionals working at the agency should respect these rights and prevent discrimination of persons with HIV/AIDS, or labeling with “drug user” or “homosexual” (Newcomb & Bentler,
Medical ethics and legal issues have been a key topic in medical field for many years now. It is important for medical professionals to understand the importance of the way we care for patients, it is therefore important to be knowledgeable and aware of the medical ethics and legal issues that govern good patient care. Health care professionals must make decisions based on ethical and legal issues to performance their regular duties. However, Medical ethics is not only about avoiding harm to patients. It is rather a norms, values and principles (Ethical theories 2015). Therefore norms, values and principles are intended to govern medical ethical conduct. Ethics is defined as “a standard of behaviour and a concept of right and wrong beyond what the legal consideration is in any given situation”. In another words medical ethics is a discipline that used to handle moral problems coming out the care of patients. Law is another important discipline that often comes together with medical ethics. Law defined as a “rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority”. Government imply law to keep the society running smoothly and to control behaviour that could threaten public safety. Medical professionals have to often prioritise these terms before making any clinical decision. The following findings will constructively emphasise on medical ethics, its
Everything discussed between a doctor and patient has to be confidential. This means whatever the patient tells the GP, the GP is then not allowed to go and discuss this with other people. If a GP was to break this right then they are disrespecting the rights of the patient and there could be consequences for the GP. However sometimes it is difficult for a GP to keep that confidentiality if he thinks the patient is in any danger, for example a GP has been told in confidence by a vulnerable elderly women that her carer has hit her, the GP would either try and persuade his patient to tell someone about the incident or he could contact social services to make a safeguarding referral. Doctors should respect the patients wishes and keep the confidentiality
Finding out that people blame doctors for when their patient commits a crime puts my mind in utter disbelief. The law of patient confidentiality clearly states that the physician must keep all information a patient informs them in confidence, unless it acquires serious medical care, but if the doctor breaches the confidentiality by informing a third party without the patient’s consent, he or she could be sued. Doctor-patient confidentiality is based on the belief that a person should not be worried about seeking medical treatment in alarm that his or her problem will be shown to others. The objective of the relationship between the patient and their doctor is to make patients feel as comfortable as possible by providing them with any information they way need about their symptoms. This helps the doctor to make a correct diagnosis, and overall helping the patient feel comfortable enough to trust their doctor so that they may receive the best care. Once a physician takes a patient on, they must keep all the patient says and does in confidence; moreover, he cannot inform any third party of the patients wellbeing, but there are some exceptions like if the patient intends on causing harm to oneself or other or if it is an issue in a lawsuit. The court system claims A patient must have full confidence that their doctor will be able to keep all his or her medical issues private which helps the patient trust their physician. The professional duty of confidentiality not only covers
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.
A specialist who is not prepared to give the thought and organizations required by patients with HIV/AIDS should make a fitting referral to those specialists or workplaces that are set up to give such organizations. Unless or until the point when the referral can be capable, the specialist must regulate to the patient to the best of his or her capacity. Summarize the overall associations between patients' rights and patients' subsequent duties concerning HIV/AIDS. Decide the essential routes in which the expert parts that doctors and attendants play are influenced as they treat patients with HIV/AIDS.As parts were isolated out of nursing and restorative specialists began to acknowledge more specialist commitments, the cover really busy nursing
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
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
In these situations where a patient may not be able to ensure they are informed lawfully, it then becomes the medical staff’s moral Duty to advocate for the patient to protect them, this involves ensuring enough information, that can be tolerated and is amoebic to the situation is
The popular belief among our society has always been “Parents know what's best”. While their kids are young, parents know how to make their medical decisions for them. Parents know what's best for their children, they know how to keep them safe and healthy. However, their children soon turn into teenagers who should be trusted to make their own choices regarding their health care. They’re no longer the children they once were; they can comprehend the extension of every decision they make. Services and treatments should not be restricted to them because of their age or need for parental consent. Teenagers should be given confidential health care and should be trusted to make the choices that regard themselves. They should be allowed the privacy from everyone, including their parents make those choices.