Provider- Patient Relationship - Essay Example

"Provider-Patient Relationship" is a great example of a paper on medical ethics. Ethical conflicts are rather common in healthcare practices. Healthcare workers and medical practitioners often face a situation where a patient has attempted a criminal act or has the intent of doing so but their ethical obligations refrain from taking an action i.e. reporting the suspected crime that an average citizen would take. However, it is important to note as to what extent a healthcare worker is liable to practice morality and ethics in terms of confidentiality of matters related to such patients. For the purpose of evaluating this situation, it is important that a healthcare practitioner has the ability to assess the severity of the situation and is aware of the immediate or potential threats caused by such individuals to the community.

Pauls et al. (2004) have discussed various case studies in which a patient has attempted a criminal offense but a physician or healthcare worker is not sure whether to report such an issue to the legal authorities or not. Careful analysis of such situations reveals that despite ethical obligations and code of conduct having no statutory authority, healthcare organizations assess the performance of their professionals and members under these criteria. Therefore, at the time of taking an oath, medical professionals commit to comply with these codes of conduct whereas most of these charters have honesty and confidentiality as their cornerstones. Therefore, in scenarios where a patient has performed contempt of law, a medical health worker has a fundamental responsibility to respect the patient’s rights. In doing so, it is important to assess if there are any immediate, long-term or extremely severe consequences of not reporting these issues (Moore et al., 2007). 

On the other hand, physicians and healthcare workers also have an obligation to refrain from discussing such patients’ conditions with individuals who are not directly involved in patients’ treatment or to whom the patient has explicitly refrained physician from transferring information about them e.g. a woman may not want her family or male healthcare professionals to know about infection in her genitalia (Cameron, 2006). Where ethical dilemmas arise in such cases, a healthcare professional is liable to assess the level and ability of the patient to make decisions. In a situation where the patient is a minor or has waived his right of confidentiality, has specific diseases or infections, posed a threat of self-harm and danger to others, healthcare professionals can be considered exempt from strict confidentiality. Similarly, statutory duties, court orders, and legal defenses may also play a key role in such situations of ethical conflict. 

There are several criteria that may help healthcare workers to exercise confidentiality. For the purpose of assessing ethical conflict, it is important that healthcare workers assess patient’s medical indications, currency quality of life i.e. severity of pain, patient’s preferences and other contextual features i.e. organizational policies and statutory requirement (Littleton et al., 2010). In cases where the services of healthcare workers are mainly used because of orders of legal authorities e.g. where the patient is being assessed for alcohol consumption while driving, the purpose of the activity must be of primary value as in such cases patients have shown their consent for sharing information.

Ethical concepts like accountability, beneficence, non-malfeasance, autonomy, justice, dignity, truthfulness and honesty protect the right of patients from legal or community invasion. These values do not provide a framework to solve an ethical dilemma but help in assessing the situation. In the light of complexities between statutory obligation and professional compulsion, it is important that healthcare workers are aware of the ethical standards and laws regarding their profession. In the absence of law, the ethical code of conduct takes precedence but healthcare professionals’ responsibility to the community under threat cannot be undermined.

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