Legal and Ethical Issues in Counseling - Essay Example

Legal and Ethical issue in Counseling Briefly explain in short answers the following pertaining to mental health counseling/therapy for individuals, couples, children and family. i. Confidentiality and its limits The counselor-client relationship is prized for the strict confidentiality that the counselor has to maintain with his patients. The client should fully trust their counselor for the therapy to work (Gladding et. al., 2001). As for any relationship built on trust, confidentiality is the foundation. However, there are times when the counselor can breach confidentiality. Some of the cases include when the patient is a danger to himself or herself, when the patient is a minor whom the counselor thinks is being abused among others. The counselor has the right and power to breach the client-patient confidentiality. ii. Privilege The information shared by the client to the counselor is private. For this reason, the client is the privilege member during therapy. The client is responsible for their privilege and is responsible for either asserting it or wavering it (Gladding et. al., 2001). Mental health professional should take directions from their patients and not the other way round. The counselor has no mandate to share any information regarding their patients. iii. Minors and the law Minors are individuals aged 18 and below. In some states such as California, the age of consent in counseling drops to 12 (Blumberg, 2008). The minors’ parents and guardians have the right to decide the right course of action for the minor. The minor is assigned their own consent if the mental health professional deems the minors mature enough. iv. HIPPA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) is an act that seeks to maintain patients’ privacy in regards to their health information. The Act addresses most of the issues concerning the patients’ health information especially the controls over the stated information (Gladding et. al., 2001). It also strives to ensure patients are able to fully trust their health care providers. Confidentiality is the core of this Act as it ensures that the mental health care profession is able to treat its patients. v. Ethical vs. Legal requirements/action The mental health profession has both the ethical and legal perspective that practitioners have to maintain. The ethics part demands that mental health professionals have to maintain confidentiality with their patients (Becker, 2004). That is the primary responsibility of the professionals. On the other hand, the legal part dictates the conditions necessary for the professionals to assume privilege over their patients. The two are necessary in this medical profession to maintain standard of service in this industry. vi. Child Abuse Reporting Mental health care professionals are also tasked with identifying and counseling children who have been sexually abused. The professionals first assess the clients and their families to understand the extent of the damage imposed by the abuse (Blumberg, 2008). After the assessment, the professionals issue the clients with the appropriate treatment for the client. vii. Elder/Dependent Adult Reporting Elderly patients and other dependent adults are also at risk of sexual abuse (Derring, 2012). Any kind of abuse while under the care of mental health professionals should be reported to local authorities or the ombudsperson (Derring, 2012). If the abuse occurs outside mental care facilities, then the reporter should ask the assistance of any adult protective services agency. People who qualify as elderly are those aged 65 and above while dependent adults are individuals between the ages of 18 and 64 (Derring, 2012). viii. Tarasoff Derived from the Tarasoff case of 1974, it became a requirement of all health workers to protect clients particularly in mental healthcare from self-harm (Gladding et. al., 2001). The health workers were ethically allowed to warn and protect their clients. Other than warning their patients, the health workers are also mandated to warn potential victims of the threat posed by their patients. Mental healthcare professionals are tasked with researching whether their clients have ever hurt or committed acts of violence. With this information, the professionals are able to adequately inform potential victims, the police and other parties. ix. Domestic Violence Mentally ill patients pose a constant threat to their spouses and families. Additionally, mentally ill patients are also victims of domestic violence who experience both physical and sexual abuse. This type of trauma is adverse to patients suffering from mental illness. Mental healthcare professionals, using the right assessment tools, should identify patients who are victims of domestic abuse (Gladding et. al., 2001). The risk posed by domestic violence is enormous especially to children who experience developmental delays and other disorders. In addition, adults are most affected as they cope with both psychological and emotional x. Informed Consent Refers to the ability a patient has in deciding what form of medical or therapeutic treatment medical professionals should proceed with. Informed consent, as with privilege, is an ethical and legal terminology that displays the ability of patients in deciding their fate (Becker, 2004). The consent becomes informed once the patient has an understanding of the recommended treatment being administered. Informed consent treats individuals as having rights that the medical profession should recognize. xi. Unprofessional conduct Unprofessional conduct refers to a variety of actions that are regarded as unlawful and unethical according to the mental healthcare practice. They generally refer to situations where mental healthcare professionals use their offices and titles for personal and unlawful actions (Gladding et. al., 2001). The penalty for this kind of abuse of office involves fines and losing the license to operate as a mental healthcare professional. xii. Releases of information Mental healthcare professionals are only allowed to release patient information under the consent of the patient. The patient has to sign a release of information form that allows the professionals to disclose the patient’s information (Becker, 2004). xiii. Subpoena vs. release of information Subpoena or a court order is another possibility that might make counselors to breach the patient-counselor agreement. The subpoena obligates counselors to release information to the court without consulting the patient (Becker, 2004). On the other hand, release of information involves consulting the patient first before releasing the information. xiv. Domestic relationships They are personal relationships between two individuals who choose to share a domestic life together. Domestic relationships are for both same-sex individuals and opposite-sex individuals (Becker, 2004). The conditions for domestic relationships differ from state to state. xv. Scope of marital and family therapists/mental health therapists license – including AG’s opinion These are the services provided to individuals, groups or couples in regards to relationships and mental health. Their purpose is to assist the individuals in adjusting to each other or the conditions present in their life (Becker, 2004). A scope of practice defines the actions that the aforementioned professionals can take and limits these individuals’ actions from a legal perspective. xvi. Triangulation dual relationships This is a unique situation where multiple roles exist between a patient, therapist and a mental health worker. There are various variations of these types of relationships depending on the context of the client (Gladding et. al., 2001). The therapist might consider bonding with the individual closest to the client among many other variations. xvii. Biomedical ethical principles from which current ethical and legal cores derive The current ethical and legal cores of the mental health profession borrow a lot from the biomedical ethical principles. The most predominant one is the respect for autonomy where medical practitioners respect the decisions of their patients (Becker, 2004). Other principals include beneficence, non-malfeasance and justice. xviii. Ethical decision making Ethical decision-making is based on the involvement of balance and choice (Becker, 2004). Different people, while making decisions, should analyze the impact of their decisions (Becker 2004). Decisions should be made in regards to their impact on the patients and institution. xix. Trainee responsibility and obligations Trainees have an array of responsibilities and obligations that they must fulfill during their traineeship. The most common is accepting instructions from their supervisors. Others include completing assignments, attending training, and keeping records of activities among others (Gladding et. al., 2001). All these aim at imparting knowledge and skill to the trainee. xx. Basic elements of case charting Trainees have an array of responsibilities and obligations that they must fulfill during their traineeship. The most common is accepting instructions from their supervisors. xxi. Ethics vs. moral code To the untrained eye, morals and ethics are one and the same thing. They both relate to what is right or wrong conduct of a professional. However, morals are subjective dependent on and individual’s definition of right and wrong (Becker, 2004). Alternatively, ethics are a set of rules imposed on individuals by their profession. xxii. Institutions that press on therapist’s decision making and regulatory board for California The justice system, in the form of courts, is an example of an institution that can press the decision making of therapists. Rulings made in court, such as the two Tarasoff cases, influences how therapists make decisions regarding their patients (Kauble, 2005). xxiii. Urgency in notification of supervisor Trainees should notify their supervisors in matters that might affect the performance of their duties. Running late, failure to come to work, other lucrative opportunities and others are some of the things trainees should notify their supervisors (Gladding et. al., 2001). Others include change of address, name, and other significant changes in the trainee’s life. xxiv. Complexity(s) in working with systems The introduction of systems in work areas always presents problems for the staff. The problems mostly involve the migration from manual systems to automated systems. The employees require training, which increases expenses for the institution, to master the new system. xxv. Complexity in working with technology (texting, social, networks, email) As with systems, adopting new technology also faces similar challenges. The most predominant is getting used to the technology and experiencing the tough learning curve of understanding a specific technology. References Becker, C. (2004). The heart of the matter (1st ed.). Wilmette, Ill.: Chiron Publications. Blumberg, G. (2008). Blumberg California family code annotated (1st ed.). [St. Paul, Minn.]: Thomson/West. Deerings California Desktop Code 2012. (2012). Lexis Nexis Matthew Bender. Gladding, S., Huber, C., & Remley, T. (2001). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in the practice of marriage and family therapy (1st ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill. Kauble, P. (2005). California laws relating to minors (1st ed.). Los Angeles: LBD Publishers. Read More