Good Samaritan Laws - Personal Statement Example

Good Samaritan Laws In the recent past, some ethical and legal issues have emerged in the healthcare setting. As a result of these ethical and legal issues, healthcare practitioners face dilemmas while determining how they will deal with clients. In the current healthcare, the provision of health services to patients experiences some legal and ethical issues, which determine service provision. This personal statement seeks to unearth the legal and ethical issues in the current healthcare setting. In addition, the paper will explore the personal and professional values, which may have an impact on these issues. Moreover, the paper will also look at the impact of these issues on the patients. The paper will also list the ways to promote health and reduce the risk in ethical and legal situations. One of the legal issues that relate to the current healthcare setting includes vaccination of the healthcare workforce. This legal issue rests on the notion that healthcare workers who have direct contact with patients should be vaccinated since they can suffer from infectious diseases in healthcare centres. In a study conducted by Stewart and Rosenbaum in 2010, it was concluded that direct contact can lead to the contracting of infections such as influenza. Such infections can be transmitted through sharing space with infected patients or through handling equipment, which the patients come into contact with during treatment. Whereas vaccination of healthcare workers can be regarded as crucial in the prevention of infections, making vaccination of healthcare workers mandatory can be termed as controversial due to the legality of such an issue (Stewart and Rosenbaum 615). Based on the law, healthcare workers should have the freewill to choose whether they should accept a vaccination or not. Therefore, it is not appropriate to force them to undergo vaccination when they do not want to do so (Babcock et al. 459). In my own analysis, there are certain personal and professional issues relating to the vaccination of healthcare workers. Personally, I think it is necessary to undergo mandatory vaccination in order not to put the health of the patients at stake. On the same note, I suppose that it is professionally wrong to force an employee to undergo some tests or vaccination, which they do not want. This issue affects the patient in that it may comprise his or her health. For example, if a healthcare worker contracts a disease from a patient, they may pass the same disease to another patient. The other legal issue that relates to current healthcare setting encompasses the use of social media in the healthcare setting. This issue revolves around the use of platforms such the internet to post information about clients or an experience in a healthcare setting (Saleh et al. 294). Some healthcare workers may post information about the experiences of patients, and this can be termed as illegal since such issues should not happen. For example, a legal battle may ensue when a healthcare worker posts some information about a patient suffering from trauma. A study conducted by Lambert and others in 2012 revealed that doctors may be reprimanded by the board when they post sensitive information about patients (Lambert et al. 41). Personally and professionally, I do not think it is acceptable to post some information online about patients. The experiences of doctors other healthcare workers, when dealing with clients, should not be exposed to the public. Such an issue may cause stigma to the patient and affect is interactions with other people. Core values such as upholding ethical standards should be followed in order to address such an issue. The other legal issue in the current healthcare encompasses language access in healthcare settings. This issue revolves around the increase in the number of persons who do not speak English. This diversity has forced healthcare settings to adhere to new legal requirements, which require that non-native speakers of the English language should be treated equally with native speakers of the language. Healthcare facilities are legally obliged to provide language services to all patients, despite the native languages of the patients. The government mandates that healthcare providers counter the language barrier experienced in hospitals. This can be done by ensuring that communication between patients and health workers is done using language, which can be understood by both patients and the health workers (Chen et al. 362). In my personal and professional view, language barrier should be overcome in the healthcare setting in order to ensure that all patients are served without any discrimination based on language differences. Health workers who refuse to serve patients by virtue of the language they speak should be held accountable for such an action. The best interactions that incorporate core values in such a scenario include the use of interpreters and translators who will make known to the practitioner the message being passed by the patient. There are also some ethical issues that relate to the current healthcare setting. These issues relate to the ability of healthcare workers to adhere to the professional ethics and avoid violating ethical standards in the healthcare setting. One of the ethical issues that relate to current healthcare setting includes moral courage in the healthcare setting. According to a study conducted by Murray in 2010, moral courage in healthcare encompasses the ability to protect the ethical beliefs, which a healthcare provider holds. In the contemporary society, most healthcare workers are faced with this ethical issue; as they provide health services. Based on this issue, health workers may be faced with the dilemma of whether to go against the patient’s will (Murray 2). Professionally and personally, I suppose that healthcare workers should not tolerate behaviour that goes against their ethical values. On this regard, therefore, there is a need to uphold ethical standards in a healthcare setting and oppose behaviour that contradicts the ethical requirements. This is because violating the ethics and lack of moral courage compromises professionalism and may affect the value of the services provided. Moral courage should guide healthcare workers to be on the right track even when other healthcare providers violate the ethical standards. Violating the ethical standards and lack of moral courage affects clients negatively in numerous ways. For instance, it may lead to the provision of poor quality services to the clients (Lachman 275). In order to incorporate core values, healthcare workers should be summoned and reprimanded for their failure to uphold ethical standards. Moral courage should always guide service provision in healthcare settings. A study conducted by Jonathan Breslin and others in 2005 revealed that another ethical issue that may be experienced in the current healthcare setting includes conflicts, especially between the health workers and families of patients, regarding the treatment decisions that medical practitioners may undertake. For example, patients may have to wait for months before they undergo some medical procedures such as surgeries or organ transplants. Such ethical challenges affect patients, their families, as well as health workers (Breslin et al. 1). Despite that it is essential to conduct such operations, the ethical standards ought to be followed, and the operations should be conducted at the right time. As such, the patients and their families have to wait; as it will be unethical for the health workers to follow the desire of the patients since this may lead to dire consequences. When faced with such a scenario, I would not allow my personal and professional values to conflict. Rather, I would advise the patient and his or her family to wait until the right time to conduct such a procedure comes. This is because conducting a procedure before the right time, with the aim of appealing to the patient, may put the health of the patient at risk. The other ethical issue in the current healthcare setting encompasses autonomy. This ethical principle dwells on the belief that patients have the freedom to choose the intervention or treatment they feel suits them best. However, informed consent of patients may not be applicable in the current healthcare setting since some of the interventions patients propose may compromise their health further rather than facilitating the recovery process. Another contentious ethical issue in the current healthcare setting includes privacy and confidentiality, especially with regard to the information obtained from the patient (Sankar et. al 659). Ethical standards require that information obtained from patients should be kept private. This means that healthcare workers should not reveal such information to other people, except to the client. This may not be the case in some situations. There are scenarios where healthcare workers may be obliged to reveal information about clients to third parties. For example, when patients plan to commit suicide, the health worker may communicate this to authorities such as the police or notify the patient’s family (Duncan et al. 428). With regard to personal and professional values, confidentiality and privacy should be maintained in the healthcare setting. However, in some instances, it becomes extremely challenging to keep information about the client confidential. In instances when keeping the information confidential compromises the lives of other people, it is essential that the information be communicated to other people. For example, when a patient is a threat to other people and plans to cause harm, it is crucial to share such information with third parties such as family members and law enforcement agencies. Works Cited Breslin, Jonathan et al. “Top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public: views of Toronto bioethicists.”BMC Medical Ethics 6.5 (2005): 1-6. Print. Babcock, Hillary et al. “Mandatory Influenza Vaccination of Health Care Workers: Translating Policy to Practice.” Oxford Journals 50.4 (2010): 459-464. Print. Chen, Alice et al. “The Legal Framework for Language Access in Healthcare Settings: Title VI and Beyond.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 22. 2 (2007): 362–367. Print. Duncan, Rony et al. “Confidentiality With Adolescents in the Medical Setting: What Do Parents Think?” Journal of Adolescent Health 49.4 (2011): 428-430. Print. Lachman, Vicki. “Moral courage in action: Case studies.” MEDSURG Nursing 16.4 (2007): 275–277. Print. Lambert, Kristen et al. “Risk management and legal issues with the use of social media in the healthcare setting.” Journal of Healthcare Risk Management 31.4 (2012). 41-47. Print. Murray, John. "Moral Courage in Healthcare: Acting Ethically Even in the Presence of Risk" The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 15. 3 (2010):1-6. Print. Stewart, Alexandra and Rosenbaum, Sara. “Vaccinating the Health-Care Workforce: State Law vs. Institutional Requirements.” Public Health Reports 125.4 (2010): 615–618. Print. Sankar, Pamela et al. “Patient Perspectives of Medical Confidentiality.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 18.8. (2003): 659-669. Print. Saleh, Jenine et al. “Effect of Social Media in Health Care and Orthopedic Surgery.” Orthopedics 35.4 (2012): 294-297. Print. Read More