Ethical principles of justice, utilitarianism, fidelity, and beneficence all play a role when dealing with the ethics of HIV. Beneficence imposes a duty for health employers to act in the best interest for patients, take positive action to help and to do well. Justice portrays equality and it requires that people should be treated fairly. It explains that a healthcare employer will treat all patients equally and use good judgement. Fidelity involves with loyalty, fairness, and being truthful. This principle applies to the patient and being honest with their partners about their status. Lastly, utilitarianism theory supports the greater good and what is best for people. It is important that HIV positive test results are reported, so third parties …show more content…
However, healthcare employers have argued that it’s an unnecessary invasion of their privacy. I argue that patients do not have a right to know such information because of its small risk of transmission. One could argue that a patient has a right-to-know based on the regulation of informed consent. The patient is entitled to know such information that might impose a risk on their health. If healthcare workers exposed their HIV status, the disclosure might sway patients to try to avoid health workers who are HIV positive. Another main reason is patients have no confidentiality responsibilities and could easily spread this information in a harmful way. Physicians have an ethical obligation to do no harm to their patients. The American Medical Association advocates HIV positive healthcare workers to stay away from performing internal surgeries as well as hip replacements. Health care workers have a duty to inform patients or employers that they are HIV positive if they perform invasive procedures on patients. A physician or other health care worker who performs exposure-prone procedures and becomes HIV-positive should disclose his/her status to a state public health official or local review committee. An HIV- infected physician or other health care worker should abstain from conducting exposure-prone procedures or perform such procedures without permission from the local review committee and the informed consent of the
All health care employees will do everything within their power to protect the patient’s right to privacy. This means they will follow the HIPAA law closely. They will disclose information that is relevant to a specialist or treatment. Also, means they will release information that a patient has asked for as promptly as possible.
This case presents a very delicate situation that presents many legal and ethical questions. Do you tell your brother his partner has HIV? I would tell my brother, but the how and when, may vary based on circumstance. From a professional ethical standpoint, it would be unethical to disclose the patient’s HIV status without consent. It would violate the patient’s right to confidentiality, as it is the patient’s choice whom information may be shared with (Beemsterboer, 2010, p. 50). It could also be argued that it is a violation of the principle of nonmaleficence. By providing the patient’s HIV status to people unbound by HIPAA, you are putting the patient at risk of discrimination. This could cause mental anguish or psychological issues, therefore, in essence, inflicting harm on the patient. The most valued application of nonmaleficence is, “One ought to not inflict harm” (Beemsterboer, 2010, p. 42). This would outweigh the ethical argument that you are also preventing harm to your brother, another less important application of nonmaleficence (Beemsterboer, 2010, p. 42). There is one professional ethical principle that I would argue was being applied. This being the principle of paternalism, stating that healthcare providers should do what they deem best for the patient according to their ability and judgment (Beemsterboer, 2010, p. 47). If the patient had a sexual encounter with the brother, and did not inform him of her HIV status, she may be arrested for reckless endangerment according to Pennsylvania law. A case where an HIV-positive person did not disclose their status to their sexual partner was brought before the Pennsylvania Superior Court. According to Pennsylvania law, “Disclosure of HIV status is a defense ag...
Overall these sources proved to provide a great deal of information to this nurse. All sources pertained to HIPAA standards and regulations. This nurse sought out an article from when HIPAA was first passed to evaluate the timeline prospectively. While addressing the implications of patient privacy, these articles relate many current situations nurses and physicians encounter daily. These resources also discussed possible violations and methods to prevent by using an informaticist and information technology.
In addition, she could obtain consent from the hospital’s IRB to access, use, and/or disclose certain aspects of the patient’s healthcare information. Nonetheless, Sue is obligated not to disclose a patient’s protected healthcare information such as their name, social security number, and/or other identifiable information even if consent is granted (McGowan, 2012). She could also use data published in peer-reviewed journals. By doing so, Sue could avoid violating hospital policies, the HIPPA privacy rules, and/or the ANA code of ethics to complete the college assignment (McGonigle & Matrian,
. HIPAA privacy rules are complicated and extensive, and set forth guidelines to be followed by health care providers and other covered entities such as insurance carriers and by consumers. HIPAA is very specific in its requirements regarding the release of information, but is not as specific when it comes to the manner in which training and policies are developed and delivered within the health care industry. This paper will discuss how HIPAA affects a patient's access to their medical records, how and under what circumstances personal health information can be released to other entities for purposes not related to health care, the requirements regarding written privacy policies for covered entities, the training requirements for medical office employees and the consequences for not following the policy.
“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)
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
When confidential patient information is disclosed without consent it is a violation of the HIPAA Title II Security Rule. This rule was enacted in response to private information being leaked to the news and emails containing privileged information were read by unauthorized people. Identity theft is a real concern so patient privacy should be taken seriously. This is a rule can easily be broken without the offender feeling any malice towards the victim for example gossip and curiosity. Gossip in a medical office can have devastating effects on a health care facility’s reputation. Employees engaging in idle chatter to pass the time can inadvertently be overheard by patients or family members. Simply not using the patient’s name may not be enough if the person overhearing the conversation sees the resemblance. Professional behavior should be exercised at all times and juvenile behavior such as spreading gossip, has no place in a business that relies on its credibility. This rule will impact the way patient medical records are handled because we know the seriousness of it. Hospitals that don’t enforce HIPAA rules will have negative repercussions. The patient can have irreversible damage done to their view on the medical field and that hospital if their information is not treated with care. They may even feel so violated that they bring litigation against the hospital.
(Allen et al., 2000) The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a clinical situation that requires the ethical principle Justice to be implemented. AIDS can be transmitted by sexual activity, intravenous (IV) drug use, and passed from mother to child. Due to the judgments and fears from the general population and some healthcare professionals, patients who have this disease may find themselves suffering from discrimination in many ways of their lives. This discrimination comes from the stigma placed by the factors in which AIDS is mainly spread. These factors are poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, prostitution, human-trafficking, which create the labels like the “drug user” or “homosexual”.
The law does not give permission to the health care professionals to disclose the medical information of the patients. It is the right of a patient to have his or her personal identifiable information to be confidential. This medical information is suppose to only be available to the physician of record as well as other necessary health care and insurance personal. Confidentiality of patient was protected by federal statute, as of 2003. Passing of federal regulations which was the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was facilitated by the requirement of having privacy as well as protection of personal records and data in an electronic medical records environment and third party insurance payers.
For years many philosophers have tries to create a perfect working system of what they think morality is. In all the claims of what morality is none could agree. So each wrote their own ideas on what morality entail thus presenting the augments to the public in the judging of why and which theory was the best. However, Scheffler in his, Morality’s demand and their Limits, evaluate all the concepts that the ideal moral theory must have. This essay will discuss the ideas that Scheffler presents in relation to John Stuart Mill moral theory of Utilitarianism. Scheffler gave three aspiration explaining what an ethical theory concept of morality must have. He stated them as: Pervasiveness, Stringency/ demanding and overriding. Pervasiveness speaks
In general, the term utilitarianism can be defined as the ethical or right action is the one that results in the greatest good for the greatest number. Therefore, some people suggest that rightness or wrongness is determine by numbers that are total the positives and the negatives outcome of an action or the one that produces the highest score of positives or negatives that is the most ethical, or right, thing to do (Neher, W. W. Sandin, P.J., 2007, p. 61).
..., beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and adequate. These principles are used to protect the rights of a patient and the physician from being dishonored. The principle autonomy allow an individual to act freely in accordance to their self-chosen plan. This means that healthcare providers must always get the patients consent before making any decision about patient’s life. The of non-maleficence states one must cause no harm to an individual. This means that we must always restrain from harming others. The principle of beneficences say that one must always promote good. This means that healthcare providers must always do what is good for the patient. Lastly the principle of justice promote fairness and equally. This mean that healthcare providers cannot act in a prejudice manner toward patients.
Various articles examining the ethical and legal issues surrounding the disclosure of HIV status prior to sexual relationships make evident that the disadvantages of disclosure outweigh the benefits, making clear that disclosure is unnecessary.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Confidential Information and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA), and the Freedom of Information Act all provide legal protection under many laws. It also involves ethical protection. The patient must be able to completely trust the healthcare provider by having confidence that their information is kept safe and not disclosed without their consent. Disclosing any information to the public could be humiliating for them. Patient information that is protected includes all medical and personal information related to their medical records, medical treatments, payment records, date of birth, gender, and