Duty to Warn Issue in Professional Ethical Practice - Case Study Example

Duty to Warn Issue in Professional Ethical Practice By Most professional activities in the world are based on codes that have ethical, social, economic as well as legal basis that should be followed by people in that field. The legal aspect is necessitated by the need to protect people who are involved or in one way or another come in to contact with products or services that are rendered in particular field. In most cases, the legal requirement is that professionals should warn people who may be at risk as a result of a service or product they offer. This paper will address the duty to warn issue in a professional ethical practice. Duty to warn can be described as a responsibility placed on professionals in various sectors to disclose some or all information concerning their practice if they feel there could be danger associated to the products or services they offer. Considering the health sector, health professional are required not to reveal information disclosed to them by patients as guided by practice ethics in the sector. However, under certain circumstances, the practitioners are required by the law to reveal confidential patient information if the patient may pose danger to other people in the society (National Conference of State Legislatures 2013). For example, a psychiatrist can disclose a confession by a mentally disturbed patient who intends to kill another person to the police as well as the ‘intended victim’. However, it is important to note that the duty to warn obligation by health professionals is also regulated by law in order to ensure sanity in the sector. This is because qualified and registered professionals are believed to be in a position to evaluate whether a patient is in a position to cause harm to others. According to Martin and Thomas, health providers are supposed to adhere to their professional ethics as well as balance clinical concerns with the requirement that society safety has to be ensured. Martin and Thomas further argue that only a qualified and registered medical professional is supposed to give out a warning of a possible danger that a patient can cause based on medical examination. This is because improper judgment and communication by unqualified personnel can discourage future patients from disclosing their intentions or even fail to seek medical support (NCSL 2013). Considering the biopsychosocial history of a patient by the name Sarah, it is possible to understand the implication of duty to warn issue in professional ethical practice. Sarah is a 30-year-old American female who was referred to a psychiatrist after presenting symptoms of extreme depression and anxiety. Sarah, a mother of one, was married to Joseph who worked as a sales person in a pharmaceutical company in New York. Before being taken to the hospital by her family members, Sarah had initially complained of poor relationship she had with her husband. Sarah and her husband Joseph had reportedly fallen out on several occasions on the grounds of ‘unacceptable’ behavior that Joseph presented. Both Sarah and Joseph were strict Christian believers and were married in a colorful Christian wedding at a local church. However, after four years of their wedding, both couples were diagnosed with virus that causes AIDS. This caused Sarah to be upset for a while since she believed that Joseph had extra marital affair with other women and as a result she was infected with HIV virus. After attending several counseling sessions, the couple agreed to forgive each other and decided to lead a normal life like any other couple. However, despite agreeing to lead a normal life like other couples, Sarah did not regain her normal life back because her health status seemed to deteriorate over time. In addition, she seemed very depressed and had a lot of anxiety in her life. Out of concern, the family members of Sarah took her for medical checkup at a nearby hospital where her health status was confirmed to be okay but she was referred to a psychiatrist. At the time, Sarah was not communicating often to her husband despite living in the same house and had stopped going to work. The psychiatrist was able to establish that Sarah was having a depression due to the circumstances. According to the psychiatrist, Sarah was worried about her health and the future of her daughter. However, the psychiatrist did not inform Joseph or even the police that Sarah had confined to her that she could even kill Joseph due to the ‘pain’ he had caused to her. Instead, the psychiatrist gave Sarah some medication and appointment dates to visit again. Unfortunately, few days after the appointment with the psychiatrist, Joseph was found dead in his apartment and Sarah was detained as the key suspect in the case. In this case, the psychiatrist should have warned the husband to Sarah of the possible dangers that Sarah posed to him. Because of that, neither Joseph nor the family members of Sarah understood the danger that Sarah posed in the society. In addition, the family members of Joseph filed a suit against the psychiatrist alleging that it was psychiatrist’s duty to inform others of the danger. Further, it is logical that the psychiatrist should not have assumed the confession made by Sarah since the consequences of the act were posing risk to a society member and this is contrary to the law. Therefore, it is possible that the psychiatrist could be held responsible over the duty to warn responsibility placed on the profession. In addition, it is a legal requirement that qualified professionals are supposed to take necessary initiatives to protect potential victims from violence that may be caused by patients who directly confess or show signs of violence to them (Martin & Thomas 2010). On the other hand, the psychiatrists have ethical principles that should be observed by practitioners in the sector and this could be the reason that some psychiatrists do not disclose information that could be useful to avert dangers in the society. According to the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy (bacp), practitioners should uphold the relevant principles that formulate the ethics practiced in the profession but should be able to consider all the circumstances surrounding a particular issue and be accountable for their decisions (n.d). For example, it is a requirement that practitioners should be trustworthy and that they should treat confidentially all the information disclosed to them by patients (bacp n.d). Evaluating the decision taken by the psychiatrist not to disclose the information confessed by Sarah, it is possible that the psychiatrist was acting on the basis of confidentiality of patient information as an ethical consideration in the profession. On this note, psychiatrists use information shared to them by patients to enable them assess how critical or urgent the situation needs to be addressed. In addition, being able to treat patient information confidentially enables the psychiatrists to win trust from the patients and therefore be in a position to get all the necessary information. Therefore, the psychiatrist who attended Sarah could have failed to disclose the information shared in good faith based on ethical practice and to earn trust from Sarah in order to encourage her to come for the subsequent appointments. Further, the psychiatrist could have decided to respect the autonomy of Sarah in the sense that the patient had a right to choose whether to participate in the psychotherapy session or not. On contrary to the ethical considerations made by psychiatrists, there is a legal requirement that mental health professionals should disclose information about patients who may pose risk to the public as well as to themselves. In this case, the professionals are exempted from breaching the confidential ethical consideration and are supposed to warn the potential victims of the possible danger from the patient (NCSL 2013). This enables the practitioners to fulfill social justice in the community since it is a legal requirement that the public should be protected from any form of danger. Considering the case of Sarah, the psychiatrist who attended her did not uphold this and as a result, Joseph was murdered. In conclusion, it is important that professionals abide to the relevant ethical considerations in the various occupational disciplines. However, from the above discussion, it is evident that duty to disclosure principle should be put into consideration while making decisions in the practice. Further, legal requirements should be incorporated within working principles followed by various professionals. References British Association for Counseling & Psychotherapy. (n.d). Ethical Principles of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Retrieved on April 21, 2014 from http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/ethics.php. Martin, C. M and Thomas, P.F. (2010). Duty to Warn Clarified. The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38:1:137-139. Retrieved on April 21, 2014 from http://www.jaapl.org/content/38/1/137.full. National Conference of State Legislatures. (2013). Mental Health Professionals’ Duty to Protect/Warn. Retrieved on April 21, 2014 from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/mental-health-professionals-duty-to-warn.aspx. Read More