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Importance of professional secrecy in medical practice
Importance of professional secrecy in medical practice
The hippocratic oath essay
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The classical Hippocratic Oath burdens unnecessarily on the new physician who is responsible to provide financial support to his teacher as well as teach this healing art to the relatives of the teacher, if they are willing to learn. Another curios thing which stood out to me was, whenever physician visits any home, he should not seduce family members of the patients for sexual relation. There are few points from the classical Hippocratic Oath, which physician will expect to be the content of the oath while taking oath at medical school. The first one is to provide good advice on the diet and keeping the patients from harm and injustice. The second point is on the prohibition of the abortion as well as keeps the patient’s information confidential.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a non-fictional novel dedicated to describing the life and experiences of a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks who’s cervical cells became famous for a multitude of reasons. Henrietta was an African American woman born in the 1920’s who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer and was treated by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her infamous story began when doctors began treating Henrietta with radium and took tissue samples from her cervix without her knowing. Cancer researchers began testing Henrietta’s cells (labeled HeLa) and found that they, unlike many other human cells, multiplied at rapid rates and almost seemed to be “immortal” or never-ending. These cells were shared, sold, and researched
So, how do we who are aspire to be Hippocratic physicians achieve this goal? First we must look at the foundations for our personal ethical frameworks through meta-ethics. Meta-ethics refers to the systems by which we establish morals and ethical principles. Today there are many philosophies of meta-ethics, divided into two basic categories, moral absolutivism and moral relativism (Lawhead, 2000). The difference between these is in the nature of ethical principles, whether subjective or objective. Say something exists objectively, like a vase on a table. The subject’s perception of the vase must conform to the true vase. If, however, the subject is simply thinking about a vase, that vase exists subjectively, and its properties are contingent to the subject’s contemplations. So, how do these differing systems affect the physician in attaining the Hippocratic ideal? Let us first consider relativism.
The Dr. Kevorkian case is important for medical ethics, because it brings up the issues of physician-assisted suicide and physician-assisted death. Physician-assisted suicide is where the doctor is assisting the patient in suicide, but the patient actually performs the act. Physician-assisted death, also known as euthanasia, is when the doctor does the act to bring about the patient’s death based on the patient’s request. This brings up the limitations of beneficence. Does a doctor have the right to end a patient’s life to relieve their suffering?
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made it illegal to gain access to personal medical information for any reasons other than health care delivery, operations, and reimbursements” (Shi & Singh, 2008, p. 166). “HIPAA legislation mandated strict controls on the transfer of personally identifiable health data between two entities, provisions for disclosure of protected information, and criminal penalties for violation” (Clayton 2001). “HIPAA also has privacy requirements that govern disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) placed in the medical record by physicians, nurses, and other health care providers” (Buck, 2011). Always remember conversations about a patient’s health care or treatment is a violation of HIPAA. “All PHI is included in the privacy requirements for example: the patient’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition; the provision of health care to the individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual” (Buck, 2011). Other identifiable health information would be the patient’s name, address, birth date and Social Security Number (Keomouangchanh, 2011). (Word count 197)
US Congress created the HIPAA bill in 1996 because of public concern about how their private information was being used. It is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which Congress created to protect confidentiality, privacy and security of patient information. It was also for health care documents to be passed electronically. HIPAA is a privacy rule, which gives patients control over their health information. Patients have to give permission any health care provider can disclose any information placed in the individual’s medical records. It helps limit protected health information (PHI) to minimize the chance of inappropriate disclosure. It establishes national-level standards that healthcare providers must comply with and strictly investigates compliance related issues while holding violators to civil or criminal penalties if they violate the privacy of a person’s PHI. HIPAA also has boundaries for using and disclosing health records by covered entities; a healthcare provider, health plan, and health care clearinghouse. It also supports the cause of disclosing PHI without a person’s consent for individual healthcare needs, public benefit and national interests. The portability part of HIPAA guarantees patient’s health insurance to employees after losing a job, making sure health insurance providers can’t discriminate against people because of health status or pre-existing condition, and keeps their files safe while being sent electronically. The Privacy Rule protects individual’s health information and requires medical providers to get consent for the release of any medical information and explain how private health records are protected. It also allows patients to receive their medical records from any...
EX1 Moreover, a good example of the irrelevance of the Oath in modern medics is the statement that a doctor may never “use the knife”, without using knifes, practicing modern surgery would be impossible (Markel, 2004). CR2 In the most Oaths administered by US medical schools, the parts about euthanasia are simply omitted, EV2 by 1993 only 14 percent of the vows taken by students prohibited euthanasia (Markel, 2004), IC this demonstrates that even if the Hippocratic Oath is the moral touchstone of physicians, most Oaths taken by students do not even prohibit euthanasia. CR3 Sometimes in order to safeguard the mysterious power and dignity of life, it is better to administer a soft death to avoid further suffering, EV3 this is also literally stated in the Hippocratic Oath: “I will keep my patients from harm and injustice”(Edelstein, 1967). C Considering all of the reasons mentioned above, the Hippocratic Oath has clearly lost its relevance regarding the prohibition of
In his essay Michael Walzer discusses the political obligation citizens have to their state. In order to have a running community and society you have to work together and make difficult decisions. These decisions can alter you and the people around drastically in both positive and negative ways but are necessary to have a working "State." It's not only hard decisions but obligations you have to your state as a loyal citizen. Those obligations are there for a reason and must be followed even if they include death. As a loyal citizen you have obligations and duties. Everyone needs to make the necessary sacrifices and have the dedication to their State. "Society must be an agreement to die if necessary in order to live together in safety as long as possible…" (Walzer, 86).
HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information ad help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. HIPAA was first introduced in 1996. It was made a law by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton. The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects an individual’s medical records and other personal health information.
Health care is an uprising issue today in the United States. I believe in order for health care or the medical field to succeed in the future that social contract should be enforced. By enforcing social contract, it will allow health care to be more efficient by allowing individuals to assume responsibility for their own healthy by having the ability to ensure health. According to The Enduring Democracy book, " from the philosophy of Jean- Jacques Rousseau, an agreement people make with one another to form a government and abide by its rules and laws, an in return the government promises to protect the people’s rights and welfare and promote their best interest"(Dautrich, 7). In other words, if people came to an agreement about health care being available for all American citizens, the government will uphold this idea and will make sure all American citizens have the right to health care.
Hippocratic Oath was earliest code of ethics to govern conduct in medicine. Unlike many modern professional codes, its intent was to describe a moral vision for members of the medical community rather than to protect members of the community from incurring on the law. This oath and AMA medical ethics are similar as the primary goal of both codes of ethics is to give full benefit to the
Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, depicts the violation of medical ethics from the patient and researcher perspectives specifically when race, poverty, and lack of medical education are factors. The novel takes place in the southern United States in 1951. Henrietta Lacks is born in a poor rural town, Clover, but eventually moves to urban Turner Station. She was diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins hospital where cells was unknowingly taken from her and used for scientific research. Rebecca Skloot describes this when she writes, “But first—though no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting sample or asked she wanted to be a donor—Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta's cervix: one from her tumor, and one from the healthy cervical tissue nearby. Then he placed the samples in a glass dish” (33). The simple act of taking cells, which the physicians did not even think twice about, caused decades
For instance, the crux represented in each chapter of Gawande’s novel is that physicians save lives. For centuries physicians have abided by the Hippocratic Oath, in essence stating that the individual will prevent, cure, and/or save the life of a patient to the best of their ability. With no doubt is this noticed throughout every portion of the book. This can be seen when Gawande explains the development of obstetrics, the tools used in childbirth, and how infant death rates through childbirth decreased. Additionally, another example of doctors at their finest when saving patients is shown when a Cincinnati hospital did everything in its power to increase the average life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients. Although these cases show excellent performances in saving lives, every physician takes the Hippocratic Oath to state their willingness to help patients no matter what the cost
For ages, Philosophers have struggled with the dispute of whether human actions are performed “at liberty” or not. “It is “the most contentious question, of metaphysics, the most contentious science” (Hume 528). In Section VIII of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume turns his attention in regards to necessary connection towards the topics “Of Liberty and Necessity.” Although the two subjects may be one of the most arguable questions in philosophy, Hume suggests that the difficulties and controversies surrounding liberty (i.e. free will) and necessity (i.e. causal determinism) are simply a matter of the disputants not having properly defined their terms. He asserts that all people, “both learned and ignorant, have always been of the same opinion with regard to this subject and that a few intelligible definitions would immediately have put an end to the whole controversy” (Hume 522). Hume’s overall strategy in section VIII is to adhere by his own claim and carefully define “liberty” and ‘necessity” and challenge the contemporary associations of the terms by proving them to be compatible.
In healthcare organizations, medical staff must conform to their hospital and their country’s code of conduct. Not only do they have to meet set standards, they must also take their patient into consideration. When making a decision upon a patient, medical staff must recognize religious backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. By understanding a patients’ beliefs and their belief system, a medical worker can give the patient their deserved medical assistance without overstepping boundaries or coming off as offensive. The practices and beliefs of four religions will be articulated throughout this essay to fully understand how religion can either help or hinder the healing process.