MED100 Week 4 Discussion Latest 2020 March

MED100 Medical Terminology, Law and Ethics

Week 4 Discussion

Our Pregnant Daughter Didn’t Want This

Learning Objectives Covered

LO 03.01 – Identify ethical situations and potential outcomes in patient care

LO 03.03 – Differentiate between ethical vs. legal situations in the healthcare setting

Career Relevancy

Humans all have a set of beliefs, values, and morals that are a guidance toward right or wrong. In medicine, these values are often pushed to the back to follow what is legal versus what is perceived as ethical. It is the responsibility of the medical professional to know and follow legal requirements for patient care, or in the absence of legal clarity, what is considered the most ethical decision should be weighed. It is important to have an extensive knowledge of the ethical and legal behaviors.

Background

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Ethical is not always legal, and legal is not always ethical. As medical professionals, sometimes we are put in this tough spot between doing what our moral compass says versus what we are legally required to abide by. In that, there are also a lot of gray areas where there are no hard-set rules for how to handle the situation that we may find ourselves facing. In these situations, it really is about what would be considered the ethical or right thing to do. So how do we know if what we believe would be the right decision, or if we would be faced with a potential law suit for using our best judgement while the patient decides after the fact that it wasn’t what they wanted? This is the gray area. The best course of action will depend on many factors. It is usually best to consult with the rest of the care team for that patient to come to the best decision as a team.

Patients are encouraged to obtain advanced directives in the off chance that they are not able to make decisions for their own care during an unexpected medical event. These directives tell us the patient’s wishes for their care in certain situations. The advanced directive may not detail the patient’s wishes in all circumstances. Often time, the family may not agree with what is legally required based on the patient’s directives. This can lead to a lot of conflict and possible law suits. As long as a medical professional is following the orders given, they should not be held liable for any malpractice charges. The situation in the case study below may be viewed differently since it does involve two lives. Sometimes in special situations, family may be able to have a judge grant them the ability to ignore a patient’s directives for a time. This is one of those gray areas in the battle of ethical and legal.

 What Are Advance Directives? – (2:54 min) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaQ8Z9XFK8E

Understand that all medical professionals do abide by special laws. One of these laws is called HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act). Consider this scenario, you’re in the lunch room with another medical assistant and friend talking about your work day. It may seem innocent to discuss your patients and what all you’ve been doing with those patients for the day. However, this is a violation of the HIPAA laws as it violates the patient’s right to privacy in their healthcare. Sharing patient information with others should ONLY be on a need to know basis for the care of that patient. This includes sharing with the family members.

 Health Information Privacy The HIPAA Privacy Rule – (5:46 min) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSvh5kkZskU

For consideration of other ethical dilemmas, visit this site: https://www.nursechoice.com/traveler-resources/4-common-nursing-ethics-dilemmas/ (Links to an external site.) (763 words) While this site is geared more toward nurses, these dilemmas are possible for all medical professionals.

For this discussion assignment, you will need to download and review the case study by clicking HEREPreview the document

Prompt

Create an initial discussion post to discuss the following questions

The case study discusses a patient who was pregnant and got into an accident. The patient’s directive was to not extend her life if she needed medically assisted nutrition and hydration, ventilator or other life support. In your own words, what should be done now for Janet and her parents, and on what grounds?? Do you agree or disagree with this statute, and on what grounds? What decision would you be making as Janet’s parental surrogate, and why?

Considering the video on HIPAA violations, share a scenario that violates HIPAA laws. Outside sources would add value to this area of your discussion.

Learning to understand ethical situations can help you in all areas of healthcare. Which field are you planning on entering for your externship and what terms do you feel will be most valuable to you?

Respond to at least two other posts (instructor and/or classmates) with substantive posts.

Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.

Reply Requirements

Per the Due Dates and Participation Requirements for this course, you must submit 1 main post of 150+ words, 1 IWG citation, and reference, as well as 2 follow-up posts of 50+ words. Responses can be addressed to both your initial thread and other threads but must be your own words (no copy and paste), each reply unique (no repeating something you already said), and substantial in nature. Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time (20%) and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. (20% per post).

Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. You’re training to be a professional—write like it.