Health Ethics in Social Work and Nursing - Case Study Example

Health Ethics in Social Work and Nursing Table of Contents I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………….. 3 II. Health and Social Care Workers’ Ethical and Professional Dilemmas behind the Case of the 65-year old Patient in Relation to the Anti- discriminatory Practices ………………………………………………….. 3 III. The Health Professional Ethics in the Light of the Organizational Legal and Social Contexts ………………………..……………………… 5 IV. Proper Health Care Management on How the Case of the 65-year old Patient should be Addressed ………………………………. 5 V. Case-based Illustrations as part of Demonstrating the Researcher’s Personal Understanding and Informed Judgement over Professional Ethical Dilemmas ………………………………………………………….. 6 VI. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………… 7 References ………………………………………………………………………… 9 Short Introduction A 65-year old male patient who has alcohol problems was admitted to the hospital due to a fall. Upon inspecting the patient’s house, the social worker discovered that the house is not fit to live in due to the presence of faeces, urine dirty clothes and waste materials all over the floor. As an end result, the house was full of mice, rats and insects that could negatively affect the patient’s physical health. The social workers did not consider paying the patient’s house cleaning expenses as an option. Therefore, the hospital paid for his bed occupancy, food and washing to keep the man healthy until someone made the cleaning arrangements in the patient’s house. For this study, the researcher will discuss the health and social care workers’ ethical and professional dilemmas behind the case of the 65-year old patient in relation to the anti-discriminatory practices. Upon exploring the health professional ethics in the light of the organizational legal and social contexts, the researcher will discuss the proper health care management on how the case of the 65-year old patient should be addressed. In the process, the researcher will provide some case-based illustrations as part of demonstrating the researcher’s personal understanding and informed judgement over the professional ethical dilemmas. Health and Social Care Workers’ Ethical and Professional Dilemmas behind the Case of the 65-year old Patient in Relation to the Anti-discriminatory Practices As part of UK’s health practice, the health and social care workers are required not to discriminate their patients for any reasons. (Brayne & Carr, 2005) In line with this matter, health and social care workers should equally practice the law of beneficence to all patients in the sense that all health and social care workers are required to do only good actions that may contribute positive effects to the overall welfare of the patients. (Mental Health Act, 2005; DOH, 2001b ) The social care workers in the case of the 65-year old patient did practice the law of beneficence since they have decided on what is the best way to promote the health condition of the old patient. Aside from the need to abide with the law of confidentiality (Mental Health Act 2005, 2005), it is an ethically accepted practice for health and social care workers to respect the patient’s autonomy by seeking personal consent with regards to the patient’s preferred care and treatment regardless of the patient’s race, gender, financial status, health, learning and mental condition. (Mental Health Act 2005, DOH, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c) As a general rule, the old patient has the right to agree or disagree on certain care based on his religious belief or personal opinion regardless of whether the health and social care practitioners may view the patients’ decision to be against the promotion of a good health. (DOH, 2001b; p. 3) Therefore, the health and social care workers should respect the old patients’ decision as to whether or not he should go back to his home. Based on the case of the 65-year old patient, it was not mentioned as to whether or not the social workers were the ones who made the sole decision with regards to keeping the patient under the caring of the hospital’s health care team. In case the social workers disregarded the patient’s autonomy, the health and social workers may end up facing legal actions for violating the law of informed consent. The Health Professional Ethics in the Light of the Organizational Legal and Social Contexts Poverty is contributes a lot to a person’s deteriorating living conditions especially in terms of having a good food and shelter. (Shaw, Dorling, & Davey, 1999) In the case of the old patient, among the possible reasons behind the living condition of his house is a limited income and alcohol problems. In relation to the law of beneficence, the health and social care workers should consider the old man’s need to seek a professional help such as counselling or other necessary therapy that is needed in treating his alcoholism. Since the old man has a limited income, the health and social care workers should give the old man with several best options on how to solve the problem. In general, the practice of informed consent is a part of the legal process when it comes to the provision of major health care intervention provided to the patients. (DOH, 2001a: p. 8) Based on the principle of informed consent, the old patient has the right to be informed about the health care decision-making regardless of his physical and mental condition. Therefore, the old patient, or the patient’s family member(s) or relatives may legally sue the health and social care workers for violating the principle of informed consent regardless of the reasons. (DOH, 2001a: p. 2) It is also possible for the entire group of health and social care providers to be held liable for the violation of informed consent caused by one of their staff. (DOH, 2001a: p. 2) Proper Health Care Management on How the Case of the 65-year old Patient should be Addressed Aside from ensuring that each of the health and social workers practice professionalism and ethically accepted health care practices, the health and social care management should also develop a culture that promotes anti-discrimination. It is necessary for the health and social care workers to work as a team when it comes to establishing the best health care option that could solve the professional and ethical dilemmas present in the case of the 65-year old patient. The health and social care management team working on this case should not only render the patient with a temporary solution to the health-related problems but a long-term health care remedy. For instance, the health and social care workers could develop a patient-and-nurse relationship with the patient in order to allow them to find out the main cause of his alcoholism. Upon determining the specific factors that triggers the old man’s appetite for alcohol consumption, the health and social care workers could slowly talk with the patient on trying to avoid drinking too much alcohol. Case-based Illustrations as part of Demonstrating the Researcher’s Personal Understanding and Informed Judgement over Professional Ethical Dilemmas The 65-year Old Patient is Mentally Incapable of Making Health Care Decisions for Himself Based on the Mental Capacity Act (2005), in case the patient is not mentally capable of deciding for himself, the health and social workers should provide some medical evidences and clinical tests1 that could prove that the 65-year old patient is mentally incompetent at the time he was supposed to be discharged from the hospital after his admission due to a fall. Upon proving that the patient is not capable of making his own decision, the health and social workers should call on the patient’s family members or close relatives to be involved in making the decision on how to get the patient’s house cleaned up prior to discharging the patient from the hospital. (DOH, 2001b: p. 9) When making important health care decision with the patient’s family member(s) or relatives, health and social care workers should give these individuals with sufficient health care information including the negative health consequences of allowing the old patient to live in a house that is uncleaned and infected by mice, rats and insects. (DOH, 2001a: p. 6; DOH, 2001b: p, 3, 6) In case the health and social workers fail to provide the patient’s family members or relatives with all the necessary information that could contribute to the said major decision-making, the health and social workers may be held legally liable for the ground of negligence in case the old patient suffers from harm. (DOH, 2001a: p. 5) Health and social care workers should record and make the patient’s family member(s) or relative’s final decision in ‘black and white’ in order to prevent some future miscommunication with regards to the care given to the old patient. (DOH, 2001a: p. 6; DOH, 2001b: p. 3) Conclusion Health and social care ethics focus on evaluating the merits, risks, and other related social concerns with regards to the activities provided by health and social care workers to the patients. In general, the code of ethics, nurse practice act, standards of care, and the legal implications of the nursing and social standards of care has to be followed carefully to ensure that the best nursing and social care practices will be rendered to the patients. (Aiken, 2005) In line with this matter, health and social care workers should practice the law of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice (Bailey, 2007) when caring for the 65-year old patient. Health and social care workers should respect the old patients’ autonomy in terms of giving him sufficient information with regards to the health risks attached with allowing him to be discharged to his home knowing that the condition of his home could negatively affect his health and overall well-being. Upon giving the old man sufficient health care information, health and social care workers should allow the old man to make his own decision with regards to being discharged from the hospital. In case the old man is not capable of making his own decision, health and social care workers are required to come up with clinical evidences that can prove that the old man is mentally incapacitated. In this case, health and social workers should be able to locate the patient’s family member(s) or relatives to join the decision-making after the health and social care workers have provided them with sufficient information related to the advantages and disadvantages of making specific decisions. Health and social care workers who are working on the case of the 65-year old patient should carefully follow the ethically acceptable health and legal guidelines in order to avoid and prevent facing unnecessary legal cases due to negligence. In order to prevent any possible legal charges coming from the patient or the patient’s family member(s) or relatives, health and social care workers should seek a legal advice prior to making an important health care decision such as in the case of whether to allow or not to allow the old patient to be discharged from the hospital due to a health detrimental home condition. References: Aiken, T. (October 2005). Legal, Ethical, and Political Issues in Nursing. 2nd Edition Philadelphi, PA. in Davisl F.A. part 1 of Book Review. Critical Care Nurse , 25(5):72. Bailey, G. (2007). NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End of Life Care. Retrieved April 26, 2008, from National Association of Social Workers: http://www.naswdc.org/practice/bereavement/standards/default.asp Brayne, H., & Carr, H. (2005). Law for Social Workers. 9th Edition. UK: Oxford University Press. DOH. (2001a, March). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from Reference Guide to Consent Examination or Treatment: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_4019079.pdf DOH. (2001b, November 21). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from Seeking Consent: Working with Older People: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4009325 DOH. (2001c, November). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from Seeking Consent: Working with People with Learning Disabilities: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_4067019.pdf Mental Health Act 2005. (2005). Retrieved April 26, 2008, from http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050009_en_1 Shaw, M., Dorling, D., & Davey, G. (1999). Poverty, Social Exclusion and Minorities. In Marmot M. and Wilkinson (ed) Social Determinants of Health. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More