Breaking Confidentiality
Breaking Confidentiality
Grand Canyon University
Ethical Decision Making in Health Care
NRS-437V
Breaking Confidentiality
We are in a world where everything is electronic from communication between two people to our medical records. Even though we have all this information at our fingertips we still have the right to privacy. Information that could potentially be harmful, shameful, or embarrassing could be deemed confidential by the person the information pertains too. (Purtilo & Doherty, 2011, p. 205) There does come a time when confidential information that has be divulged to a healthcare professional that just cannot be kept confidential. It is in those situations when we are faced with the ethical dilemma of breaking confidentiality.
Breach of Confidentiality When the decision has been made through ethical reasoning to break the patient’s confidentiality there can be some negative repercussions from this decision. When a patient divulges personal information, it is done so because that patient respects and trusts that the healthcare professional will in return respect the patient’s privacy. When that confidence is broken leads to feelings of disrespect and that the healthcare professional lied to the patient in order to get information out of them. This can potentially lead to many issues in the patient’s future as they cannot effectively build trusting relationships with healthcare professionals. This can lead the patient to withhold vital information about their health because they are afraid that their confidentiality would be breach again. By omitting vital information can cause health problems not to be detected and proper care not provided to that patient.
Ethical Principles Healthcare professionals have the moral duty to provide vital information that could protect the beneficence of the people within that community. There are laws in the United States which require physicians to report certain infectious diseases to public health
Grand Canyon University
Ethical Decision Making in Health Care
NRS-437V
Breaking Confidentiality
We are in a world where everything is electronic from communication between two people to our medical records. Even though we have all this information at our fingertips we still have the right to privacy. Information that could potentially be harmful, shameful, or embarrassing could be deemed confidential by the person the information pertains too. (Purtilo & Doherty, 2011, p. 205) There does come a time when confidential information that has be divulged to a healthcare professional that just cannot be kept confidential. It is in those situations when we are faced with the ethical dilemma of breaking confidentiality.
Breach of Confidentiality When the decision has been made through ethical reasoning to break the patient’s confidentiality there can be some negative repercussions from this decision. When a patient divulges personal information, it is done so because that patient respects and trusts that the healthcare professional will in return respect the patient’s privacy. When that confidence is broken leads to feelings of disrespect and that the healthcare professional lied to the patient in order to get information out of them. This can potentially lead to many issues in the patient’s future as they cannot effectively build trusting relationships with healthcare professionals. This can lead the patient to withhold vital information about their health because they are afraid that their confidentiality would be breach again. By omitting vital information can cause health problems not to be detected and proper care not provided to that patient.
Ethical Principles Healthcare professionals have the moral duty to provide vital information that could protect the beneficence of the people within that community. There are laws in the United States which require physicians to report certain infectious diseases to public health
References: Nathanson, P. G. (2000). The American journal of bioethics. Retrieved from http://www.bioethics.net Purtilo, R. B., & Doherty, R. F. (2011). Ethical dimensions in the health professions (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.