Introduction to Bioethics
Unit 3 Assignment
HU245: Ethics
Bioethics is defined as “life ethics.” Essentially, ethics having to do with medicine and medical aspects of human beings, such as human experimentation, abortion, mercy killing, and truth telling, among others” (Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W.). The bioethics topic that I chose to talk about has to deal with medical confidentiality. Medical confidentiality requires doctors to keep a patient’s personal health information private unless consent is provided by the patient. Patients normally share personal information with health care providers. If the confidentiality of this information is not protected, trust in the doctor-patient relationship would diminish because respecting a patient’s privacy increases his/her willingness to seek care. However, the “American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) agree that it is ethically permissible for physicians to notify an identifiable person in danger of contracting the virus from a partner if they have good reason to believe that the infected person has failed to or is unwilling to do so” (Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W.). I believe that regardless of the stigma associated with people who are HIV positive or who have AIDS if there is a known risk to another person then said medical information should be revealed not only because spouses and partners need to be protected but also patients deserve to be protected from health caregivers infected with HIV or AIDS because in the end the duty to protect people from an imminent danger/contagion should outweigh the duty to maintain a patient's confidence.
References:
Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W. Ethics: Theory and Practice 11/e VitalSource ebook for Kaplan University [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from: http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781256742562/id/bm10
Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W. Ethics: Theory and Practice 11/e
HU245: Ethics
Bioethics is defined as “life ethics.” Essentially, ethics having to do with medicine and medical aspects of human beings, such as human experimentation, abortion, mercy killing, and truth telling, among others” (Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W.). The bioethics topic that I chose to talk about has to deal with medical confidentiality. Medical confidentiality requires doctors to keep a patient’s personal health information private unless consent is provided by the patient. Patients normally share personal information with health care providers. If the confidentiality of this information is not protected, trust in the doctor-patient relationship would diminish because respecting a patient’s privacy increases his/her willingness to seek care. However, the “American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) agree that it is ethically permissible for physicians to notify an identifiable person in danger of contracting the virus from a partner if they have good reason to believe that the infected person has failed to or is unwilling to do so” (Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W.). I believe that regardless of the stigma associated with people who are HIV positive or who have AIDS if there is a known risk to another person then said medical information should be revealed not only because spouses and partners need to be protected but also patients deserve to be protected from health caregivers infected with HIV or AIDS because in the end the duty to protect people from an imminent danger/contagion should outweigh the duty to maintain a patient's confidence.
References:
Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W. Ethics: Theory and Practice 11/e VitalSource ebook for Kaplan University [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from: http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781256742562/id/bm10
Thiroux, J. P., &Krasemann, K. W. Ethics: Theory and Practice 11/e