Ethical Decision-Making In Counseling Addicts Paper

Ethical Decision-Making in Counseling Addicts
Crystal Ramsey
Liberty University

Abstract
Robin was admitted to an intensive residential facility for drug addiction. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal statute, requires counselors to give clients access to their records. Five moral principles are viewed as the foundation of ethics in counseling: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity. Ethical decision-making models include the following common steps: identify the problem, consult the ACA Code of Ethics, consequences of actions, and course of action. Keywords: ethics, release of records, moral principles

Ethical Decision-Making in Counseling Addicts Ethics
It is unclear whether or not it was a voluntary commitment. The principle of respect for autonomy would support conceding to Robin’s request of showing her the results of her test assessments. However, given her drug addiction she may not have the ability to make judicious decisions. I believe that when Robin is outside of the facility seeking treatment, autonomy will be more of a focus. Nonmaleficence is a factor and a principle that does apply to this specific situation (Remley & Herlihy, 2014). Robin has requested her records and has been denied. She is confused and does not know why she was given the different assessments or what they mean. Denying her request could potentially harm her. On the other hand, beneficence reflects the counselor’s responsibility to promote mental health and the wellness of the client. Giving Robin the results at this time could worsen her drug addiction impending a diagnosis with a potential stigma. Robin has been advised by her therapist that she is not allowed to see the results of her examinations or any part of their records, so justice does not factor into this situation. Not showing records to clients’ sounds like a policy within the facility and unbiased treatment of all clients. Fidelity is related to maintaining trust in the counseling relationship. During informed consent, a discussion should have taken place in the test assessments and whether or not
Leaving the facility could lead her to continue her drug addiction. Also, Robin could file suit against the counselor. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal statute, requires counselors to give clients access to their records. However, subpoena of test records is one of the most controversial and difficult issues concerning the release of records because the release of test data involves copyrights laws (Remley & Herlihy, 2014). On the other spectrum, Robin views her records. Some of the practitioner’s annotations could seem inaccurate or ambiguous if taken out of context. Robin could be harmed by the misunderstanding of technical professional information within her records. She may not know how to deal with the information and could cause additional emotional stress. By the counselor releasing her records and results to Robin, the facility could find the counselor in violation of policy and be fired or reprimanded. Unless Robin is not capable of making her own decisions, releasing her records to family could be in violation of confidentiality unless it was predetermined with written consent by Robin for the release of information. Also, releasing the information to relatives could be detrimental to Robin if it were something in the records she did not want anyone to know. By taking Robin’s request to the