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Essays about ethics in healthcare
Principles of healthcare ethics
Healthcare ethics case study chapter 2
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Medical professionals are faced with ethical decisions every day; however, the answers are not always simple or clear and the best decisions are not always made. In the following case study both ethical and unethical topics were presented. The case study reviews Main Street Occupational Therapy Clinic, where a current patient applies for an open position as a front office assistant. The case study states that the staff has concerns about hiring a current patient as well as concerns for the physical limitations the patient expresses during his treatment visits. Although the patient has claimed during his first interview he is able to perform all task without limitations. Due to the staff concerns, the patient is asked to agree to a second interview …show more content…
After analyzing the AOTA Code of Ethics, the case study directly violates the principles and standard of conduct under non-maleficence, which states, " Avoid dual relationships, conflicts of interest, and situations in which a practitioner, educator, student, researcher, or employer is unable to maintain clear professional boundaries or objectivity” (“Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics” 4). By the Occupational Therapist working as both the professional and the employer to the patient and potential employee, there would be dual relationships involved which goes directly against the code of ethics. There is also conflict of interest because the employer knows more about the patient than what is stated on the application, which led to a biased application process. According to USEEO, “An employer also may not ask a job applicant to answer medical questions or take a medical exam before making a job offer” and the commission goes on to further state “The law allows an employer to condition a job offer on the applicant answering certain medical questions or successfully passing a medical exam, but only if all new employees in the same job have to answer the questions or take the exam.” (“Pre-Employment Inquiries”). This statement makes the Occupational Therapy Office’s decision unethical because the medical exam was administered before there was a conditional job offer and the exam was performed …show more content…
As stated in the USEEO, “An employer may ask a job applicant whether they can perform the job and how they would perform the job” (“Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices”). When the clinic set up the first interview with the patient, the interview process was completely ethical because they only asked the patient if he could perform the job. Although the interviewers were aware that the patient had pre-existing limitations, they did not ask further questions and were professional in taking the patients word. Since no disability-related questions were asked at the time of the first interview the interview was within regulation of the USEEO and was completely
In the social work practice, social workers should abide by and respect the protocol of their particular organization. The first ethical standard I would like to discuss is that a social worker having cultural competence and social (NASW, 1999). A social worker must possess the knowledge of values, customs, tradition and history just to name a few in order to have success with clients that may identify as something other than their own identity. Culture directs impacts human behavior. Within this case study, due to Mrs. Sanchez’s culture, she struggled to assimilate with the American culture and this included her being able to learn the English language. Her culture was very important to her and I respect that. As a social worker, I would have
Sim, J (1997). Ethical Decision Making in Therapy Practice. Oxford: Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. p.16.
As population ages, clinicians will care for an increasing number of elderly patients. Just as these patients may present unique and challenging medical dilemmas, so may they also present ethical ones. Ethical dilemmas are present in everyday practice. It provides a brief overview of the situations that may raise ethical concerns. Although, these are not the only ethical concerns that may arise during care of the elderly and are not unique to the population, they represent the most common scenarios that clinicians may encounter in their everyday course of practice. Ethics, according to (Mueller, Hook & Fleming, 2004), is the analysis and identification of the moral problems that arise in the care of patients. Ethical issues on geriatrics: a guide to clinicians (2004) reports that clinicians will care for an increasing number of elderly patients with challenging medical problems.
For anyone who has ever worked in healthcare, or simply for someone who has watched a popular hit television show such as Grey’s Anatomy, General Hospital, House or ER know that there can be times when a doctor or health care provider is placed in extremely difficult situations. Often times, those situations are something that we watch from the sidelines and hope for the best in the patient’s interest. However, what happens when you place yourself inside the doctors, nurses, or any other of the medical provider’s shoes? What if you were placed in charge of a patient who had an ethically challenging situation? What you would you do then? That is precisely what Lisa Belkin accomplishes in her book “First Do No Harm”. Belkin takes the reader on
The employment situation can create awkward situations sometimes if a medical assistant is more dependent for her livelihood on an individual who might be practicing illegally and unethically. The five top ethical issues in healthcare right now is balancing care quality and efficiency, improving access to care, building and sustaining the healthcare workforce of the future, addressing end-of-life issues, and allocating limited medications and donor organs. These are just the top five issues found on the AMN health care website but it states that ethicists acknowledge that other concerns will continue to develop as well, such as healthcare technology’s impact on communication policies, medical records and patient privacy. (Jennifer Larson,
Pozgar, George D. Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals. Michigan: Jones and Bartlett Learning, LLC, 2013. Print.
Ethical issues are “moral challenges” facing the health care profession (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 127). Ethical issues is a major concern in the healthcare field because healthcare providers observe ethical issues every day and have to make ethical decisions. Advance directives are written documents that addressed an individual’s medical care preferences. These documents usually take effect when patients no longer can make informed health care decisions for themselves. While these documents are helpful to loved ones and health care providers, there are a number of ethical considerations that can make the development and execution of advance directives difficult (Llama, 2014). This author is a geriatric nurse that recently observed an advance directive ethical issue in the clinical setting. The purpose of this paper is to outline the steps of ethical decision-making within the seven steps for the framework. This paper will also identify the facts of the case from the perspective of each person impacted by the situation and identify which ethical principles were involved in the situation.
Barnett, Wilson J.(1986). Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing. Journal of Medical Ethics. Retrieved on 12th July 2010 from
Section 5.4, which is the preservation of integrity, suggests that nurses will inevitably have to deal with threats to their moral or professional integrity at some point in their careers. Nurses should do their best to maintain professional integrity when met with adversity, weather it be from uncooperative issuance companies, an unsound work environment, or from the patients themselves. When working in an unsound or unsafe work environment that violates law or the ANA code of ethics nurses must go through the proper channels to fix the problem. If a nurse feels that a procedure or treatment their patient is having conflicts with his or her own moral integrity and they cannot participate, the nurse must report they unwilling to tr...
Physical Therapist (PT), are skilled health care practitioners that aim to improve movement, reduce pain and increase patient enjoyment of life. All while providing moral, legal and ethical care to patients. However, each of these requirements of practice are dictated by different entities. Meaning, that the requirements sometimes may or may not correlate with one another. Legally, therapist must abide by both state and national laws that are put in place for all health care professionals, in addition to those specific to the field of Physical Therapy. Whereas, ethical responsibilities may be dictated by the professional organizations and society norms. While morals vary according to different cultures and subcultures, making them specific
Health Care workers are constantly faced with legal and ethical issues every day during the course of their work. It is important that the health care workers have a clear understanding of these legal and ethical issues that they will face (1). In the case study analysed key legal and ethical issues arise during the initial decision-making of the incident, when the second ambulance crew arrived, throughout the treatment and during the transfer of patient to the hospital. The ethical issues in this case can be described as what the paramedic believes is the right thing to do for the patient and the legal issues control what the law describes that the paramedic should do in this situation (2, 3). It is therefore important that paramedics also
Today’s society protects against discrimination through laws, which have been passed to protect minorities. The persons in a minority can be defined as “a group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society” (The Free Dictionary). It is not ethical for any person to discriminate based on race or ethnicity in a medical situation, whether it takes place in the private settings of someone’s home or in a public hospital. Racial discrimination, in a medical setting, is not ethical on the grounds of legal statues, moral teachings, and social standings.
Physical therapy is a health care profession, which focuses on enhancing and restoring functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. This profession treats people with any kind of functional disabilities and improves their independence in activity of daily living through specially designed muscular skeletal exercises, massages and various types of modalities. One of the ethical dilemmas that has been presenting in not only physical therapy profession, but in other related professions as well, involves the interaction of patient and the therapists. In many instances, nurses, physical therapists or doctors know the conditions of the patients better than the patients themselves. Most of the physical therapists are trained to adhere the principles of beneficence. They are trained to believe that they must do what will benefit the patients' the health most and not harm them physically or psychologically. Sometimes patients may not want to receive or participate in the treatment session for various reasons. However, since most of the physical therapists know what needs to be done to improve patients' condition and desire their patient to recover as soon as possible, they may have to push, in some case, even force their patients to receive treatments.
At the first stage before an offer of employment, a company may not ask any disability-related questions or require any medical examinations, even if they are related to the job. The second stage is after a conditional job offer, but before he/she begins work. During this time an employer may ask disability-related questions and conduct medical examinations, regardless of whether they are related to the job, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the identical job type. Stage three is after employment commences, an employer may make disability-related inquiries and also require medical examinations however, it has to be job-related and consistent with business necessity(Questions and Answers, n.d.).
In conclusion, there are numerous legal and ethical issues apparent in the nursing practice. Nurses should study and be as informed as they can with ethics and legality within their field in order to ensure no mistakes occur. Ethical issues vary based on patient’s views, religion, and environment. Nurses are influenced by these same views, but most of the time they are not the same as the patients. As a nurse we must learn to put the care of our patients and their beliefs, rights, and wishes before our own personal