Child abuse and for the greater good are just two of several exceptions to confidentiality. Healthcare professionals are legally required to report any suspected child abuse and can disclose medical information to Child Protective Services and investigation services. Though confidentiality is one of the uppermost priorities in health care, there are times when the best interest of the public outweighs the protection of a patient’s private medical information (Stanford & Connor, 2014). For an instance, if someone has a highly contagious disease, alerting the public can help ensure their…
In the patient confidentiality case of Carlos, a 21 year old Hispanic male is being discharged from his hospital stay for a gunshot wound. Carlos is intended to receive nursing care at home from his sister, Consuela. Carlos is secretly a homosexual and is concerned that his secret will be revealed and be disgraced by his family. Carlos pleaded with his physician not to inform his sister that he is HIV-positive. Not informing Consuela would seem to increase her risk of contracting HIV while attending to Carlos’ wounds. The ethical issue is whether Carlos’ physician is justified in breaching confidentiality on the grounds that he has the “duty to warn” Consuela of the risks at hand.…
Fox News discusses whether or not the U.S government has control of the outbreak. In relation to the man from Liberia that died in Dallas, one reporter stated that just being from Liberia should have been a red flag. She continued on to say that he should have had a sign on his forehead saying that he has Ebola just because he was from Liberia. Just because one is from a certain country does not mean that they have automatically contracted the disease. Another article that was biased towards the situation was NBC News: Inside Ebola Quarantine. A Christian missionary from North Carolina had established a quarantine stemming from an outbreak in Africa. The carriers were secluded in 5 RV’s, but nobody would disclose any information regarding those quarantined because they did not want to cause public anxiety. Now why would they not want us to know about that? If the truth were told, the public would be under the impression that the government does not have anything under control. In order for us to maintain the thought that our government is handling the situation, we must be uninformed of certain instances, such as this. On the neutral side, NBC News had a video with the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the statement he was making, he just stated facts about the progress they have made and what they are doing to try to harness any further outbreaks in the U.S. He covered how the U.S.…
Others have questioned the need to increase influenza vaccination rates among HCWs, claiming that HCWs should simply avoid patient contact when ill. Unfortunately, although HCWs say that they will stay home when sick, in reality, many HCWs routinely come to work with symptoms of influenza-like illness.32,46,47 In addition, people may shed influenza virus during the 24 hours before the onset of clinical illness48 or in the absence of clinical symptoms,49 which enables HCWs to transmit the virus to their patients, even when the HCWs feel well. A variety of ethical issues are involved in a mandatory program such as this. In sum, one attempts to balance the benefits that accrue to patient safety against the loss of the individual’s right to choose.50-52 During the planning process for our program, the ethics committee was involved, and we enlisted the help of outside ethicists as well. Overall, it was felt that the importance of protecting our patients was paramount. However, a mandatory program needs to be flexible enough so that valid reasons for avoiding vaccine use can be accommodated. We include both medical and religious reasons as part of this process.…
The Mayor of a large city was given a free membership in an exclusive golf club by people who have received several city contracts. He also accepted gifts from organizations that have not done business with the City but might in the future. The gifts ranged from $200 tickets to professional sports events to designer watches and jewelry.…
At the end of the story Of Mice and Men, George faced the moral dilemma of killing his best friend Lennie or letting Lennie face the consequences of killing Curley’s wife. He made the right decision in killing Lennie. His reasoning behind it was mostly for Lennie’s benefit but there was a small portion of George that was glad to do the job. Although it would’ve been right morally for Lennie to be turned in to the police and face justice for his actions that just doesn’t happen due to the type of situation they’re in.…
The desire and need for a code of ethics in public health came out of growing recognition of the inadequacies of medical ethics for guiding public health decisions (Kanekar & Bitto, 2012). There was an absence of an explicit set of ethical guidelines for organizations that dealt with public health to follow. During the annual APHA meeting in 2000; the PHLS Ethics Work Group, comprised of the Public Health Leadership Society (PHLS), along with local and state public health professionals, public health academia, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Public Health Association (APHA) were encouraged to come together and initiate the process of writing a code of ethics for public health (Thomas,…
At stake here are several conflicting values, the concern for a fellow human being, self-preservation, success of the company and the pressure to perform. As VP of the division, I am under scrutiny to deliver substantial results to my president, John Edmonds, to be seen as sensitive to my product managers needs. Lisa Walters, Kathryn’s supervisor, has pressed me for a resource action for boosting staff morale and replacing her with someone who can be more productive. I also feel that Kathryn McNeil is a hard worker who is stuck in a tricky personal situation.…
The long debated question of the importance of men and women and their roles has raged on for years. Should men and women be treated equally, that truly is the question that seems to have more answers than resolution. Applying the question to Deontology and the work of Immanuel Kant, the answer would be all people regardless of gender should be treated equally. However, these theories do not take into account the actions of the male or female in question. The question still remains, should men and women be treated equally or should it be based on the situation, all accounts will be taken into further consideration.…
The usage of quarantine increases numerous ethical worries. Countless people believe that quarantine starts an unjustified reduction of personal rights, while others see it as an essential characteristic of infectious disease control. Some ethical thoughts to consider are whether the idea of quarantine is reasonable ethically and it is effective. It is vital to make a strong difference amongst quarantine and separation (Rothstein, 2015). Quarantine is the separation of people unprotected who are not yet indicative for a period of time to regulate whether they will have symptoms. Quarantine can accomplish many goals; it ends the sequence of communication because it is less likely to infect others in social movement. Also, it permits the individuals…
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) required all local public health departments to create a mass vaccination plan in the event of an infectious disease outbreak such as smallpox (Aaby, et al. 2006). Even though the Montgomery County Public Health Services (PHS) of Maryland had experience with handling infectious diseases such as flu outbreaks and had previously executed mass-dispensing of vaccine during the October 2001 Anthrax attacks, those events were considered small scale in comparison to the CDC’s requirement (Aaby, et al. 2006).…
PASSION: Why am I here? As a child I was always attracted to the smaller, weakened animal I found in my yard, i.e. dying birds, kittens, bugs, etc. The animals we owned were never neutered which resulted in a numerous amount of puppies and kittens. I was intrigued by the cycle of life. Originally I wanted to become a veterinarian. The financial strain on my family made it apparent that it would not be possible. As fate would have it, there was a two year waiting list for nursing school, but I was readily accepted into a two year respiratory program. At the end of the respiratory program, I stayed for one more year to specialize in NICU.…
In human societies there will always be issues or problems that occur which cause some form of reaction from those who feel that their values or societal equilibrium is being threatened. Stanley Cohen and Jock Young led the way in explaining the notion of moral panics and how they are formed and their consequences on society. There have been numerous of these moral phenomena over the years, which have gripped society in a vice lock of terror and more often than not, ignorance. This essay will discuss the concept of the moral panic and look at the case of HIV/AIDS which caused a huge conflict of morality within society. This essay will also analyse the failings of health organisations, politicians, and the media and to give an understanding of the causes of this particular moral panic and the effects on society.…
In an argument that perhaps dates back to the founding of America, the debate over whether personal liberties or the welfare of the public takes precedent continues to rage on. This debate has taken form in many debates, from the Massachusetts smallpox outbreak in 1901, which sparked argument over whether the state should force people to be vaccinated against the disease to protect the welfare of the public, or if the personal liberty of Massachusetts residents was more important. This debate has emerged again recently as the nation debates what to do with healthcare workers returning from treating Ebola patients in Africa: quarantine them to eliminate the risk of transmission, or allow them to go about their lives? The debate quickly became heated as strict quarantine laws were imposed largely based on the panic and hysteria Ebola brought about after the world witnessed tens of thousands of deaths in Africa and around the world.…
In the United States, “State and local governments are primarily responsible for maintaining public health and controlling the spread of diseases within state borders” (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014). The federal government has authority as well, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to monitor and respond to the spread of communicable diseases across national or state borders, or if the state government is unwilling or unable to effectively respond (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014).…