Medical Ethics Case Study

The decision for the medical staff at the clinic to tell Maria that she was HIV positive without a professional translator and to instead tell her sons was a major breach of ethics and would be considered inexcusable in any professional setting. By using untrained translators, they limited her power to make informed decisions, breaking the autonomy principle of medical ethics. And then they also told her sons, which is a major breach of privacy and a violation of the non-maleficence principle of medical ethics, which could have upset her and lowered her likelihood of returning to the clinic for follow-up. (Skolnik CH4) The clinic infringes on the key principle of cultural competence that refers to delivering healthcare in a way that is accessible to the patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs. (Betancourt) In this situation, there was a pretty clear lack of linguistic support for this patient and potentially other patients as well. There is a procedure set in place by the US Department of Health and Human Services for the proper treatment of people who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP). This procedure makes it very clear that a family member may only be used as an interpreter if they are offered and forego a facility-provided interpreter at no cost to them, and then also specifically points
To purposefully avoid cultural competence would be an injustice to your patients, and would violate the physician’s oath to do no harm. A situation such as this in many healthcare settings can be life-threatening in the future. Language barriers cause miscommunications, resulting in information deficits regarding previous conditions, allergies, current medications, and much more. Culturally competent care is vital not just for keeping patients happy, but for keeping them