Essay Sample on Medical Ethics: Essential for Doctor-Patient Relationships

Introduction

The medical profession is regulated by various codes of ethics that govern the interactions between health service providers and their patients. The ethical guidelines are essential in the sense that they help to foster the development of healthy relationships between the various parties involved in the healthcare service delivery (Jones, 1991). The formation of a good doctor-patient relationship is also essential in health service delivery. This is because an open relationship between the patient and the doctor is expected to facilitate better treatment processes administration as well as more accurate diagnosis, which is essential in the treatment process. It is, however, necessary to note that confidentiality between the doctor and the patient should be observed. This is because some of the information provided is personal, and the patient may only open up in confidence in their healthcare service provider for treatment purposes.

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Social Workers and Ethical Guidelines

Social workers are another group of employees who have been identified to have extensive interactions with their patients in and out of the healthcare setting. These extensive interactions may see the development of social relationships between the social worker and the patient. Although such a relationship may be essential for the treatment process at hand, it is necessary to ensure that measures are put in place to ensure that the relationship does not escalate and go into violation of the outlined ethical guidelines between the relationship of a client and social worker. This is because, if such a relationship went overboard, it may compromise the integrity of the social service at hand and have far-reaching negative impacts on the wellbeing of the patient as well as the social worker. Ethical guidelines and regulations that govern the operation of the social service workers are essential in the sense that the rules help to ensure that such lines are not crossed and therefore work to maintain and foster healthy relationships between social workers and patients.

Case Study Analysis

Zack is a patient who has been identified to need social services to help given the challenges that he was going through after separating from the mother of his kids due to her mental issues. Zack was lucky enough to find Anisa who is a social worker with the Families for Life Agency. Anisa has been helpful to Zack and has managed to support him through the trying times that he has been up against. For instance, she has ensured that children can access schooling. After Zack was forced to sell his house due to the financial crisis that he was in, Anisa helped him to obtain affordable housing, thus moving from precarious housing.

The Pursuit of Social Justice

Anisa has also gone the extra mile of ensuring that she brings Zack's family together in the attempt to come up with an amicable solution or a way to ease up the challenges that Zack may be experiencing in is day to day challenges. In the family group conference, Zack's close relatives were in attendance, which is an essential approach towards addressing the challenges at hand. This is a situation that exhibits a direct pursuit for social justice in the case of Jack, who has been identified to be experiencing various social challenges.

Anisa's Ethically Correct Undertakings

As a social worker, Anisa has managed to meet her responsibilities and served Jack in the best way possible. This could be identified in her dedication as well as the thorough follow up that she conducts concerning her client's case. For instance, Anisa ensures that she has weekly sessions with her supervisor and reviews her cases with him. This helps to ensure that all the emergent issues get addressed accordingly, and an immediate response gets developed. Anisa has also managed to apply client confidentiality in her patient association in various instances. For instance, after discussion with her supervisor, and with Zac's consent, Anisa referred the matter for a family group conference. This is a clear indication of professional behavior where the social worker observes the outlined codes of operation. She consults first, attains the client's consent before moving on to the next step of organizing the family conference.

This way, Anisa can respect her patient's wishes and ensures that the patient understands the reason as to why she undertakes the decisions that she takes in the treatment process. A social worker is required to create a generous mood between her client and the treatment procedures that they intend to follow in the case at hand. This helps the patient to understand the importance of undertaking this treatment process and therefore facilitates a better arrival towards the final treatment outcome. Anisa, as a social worker, has consequently managed to apply the above aspects of ethical behavior in her interaction with her patient, which may be attributed to the positive response observed between her and Zack.

Anisa’s Undertaking That May Not Be Ethically Correct

There are some undertakings that Anisa has been involved in that undermine the CASW codes of ethics. This is because some of these undertakings violate the patient's confidentiality while others lead to the likelihood of the occurrence of some unprecedented challenges down the treatment road. One instance in which Anisa failed to observe the CASW ethical codes of conduct is in her coffee meeting with Zack's mother, Jenita. This is because the development of a personal relationship with a patient's kin is likely to crowd a social worker's perception of their patient and potentially lead to the viewing of this patient from a different perspective.

In the coffee meeting, Anisa also shared some information that Zack had told her in confidence. This, in return, results in an instance of a confidentiality breach given that the social worker is not allowed to share any information provided by that patient in confidence with a third party. Worsening the situation is the fact that Anisa was not straight forward with his patient, and he came to learn about this information from his mother. This, therefore, undermines the social worker's adherence to the ethical guidelines and puts her progress with the patient at risk, given that such a confidentiality breach may affect the level of trust that Zack may be willing to accord Anisa after the violation of their confidentiality agreement.

Another instance where Anisa has exhibited unprofessional behavior is in the development of a friendly relationship with Zack's co-worker and personal friend Kai. This behavior may be viewed as unethical, given that it results in the event of a rift between Zack and his friend Kai as well as Anisa. This is because Zack may tend to feel scrutinized when in the presence of his friend, given the developing relationship between him and his social worker. This may, therefore, end up putting a strain on this relationship, which in the long run, will result in the weakening of the relationship between Zack and Anisa. It is, therefore, necessary for Anisa to ensure that she avoids such relations with Zack's friends for her professional orientation goals.

Conclusion

A good relationship between healthcare as well as a social service provider and the patient is of paramount importance. This is because it helps to ensure that there is the establishment of trust, which is essential in the service delivery process. In return, this ensures that there is a productive interaction between the parties involved, thus making the treatment process worthwhile.

References

Jones, T. M. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of management review, 16(2), 366-395.