Ethical Frameworks

Ethical Frameworks Practice Health care professionals are subject to a multitude of professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities which call for personal judgment to be utilized in such a manner as to protect clients as well as public wellness and interests. Overall considerations in handling such duties may be considered to be respect of a client’s autonomy, confidence, and recognition of obligations owed to all clients. While the aforementioned acts fall within the professional realm, there are also legal implications that guide care. Therefore, it can be said that ethical considerations occur in observation of legal responsibilities. Confidential information is perceived as private facts which are disclosed with the understanding that such information will not be divulged without proper consent (Cain, 1998). With ethics playing a pivotal role in the foundation of nursing, breachment of confidentiality can have ethical implications varying from patient mistrust, legal ramifications, and other unintended outcomes. Many of the difficulties regarding the exemption to the duty of confidentiality come under the vague caption of public concern and interest. This raises ethical predicaments as to who a nurse is obligated to defend. Nursing duties include prevention of disease, the easing of afflictions, and the defense, encouragement, and re-establishment of wellbeing in the care of persons, families, and communities (American Nurses Associaion). Such an obligation to such broad groups can cause conflict from both a personal and professional standpoint. Should the privacy of the client be safe guarded or does communal concern in revealing the information supersede the clients’ entitlement to discretion? Nurses in their everyday practice may employ varied ethical theories, whether consciously or subconsciously, to patient situations on an individual basis. In the instance of the article “Bioethics on NBC’s ER: Betraying Trust or Providing Good