Essay Assignment

ETHICAL FRAMEWORK IN PRACTICE Name Institution Affiliation Course Date of Submission Ethical framework in practice. Information secrecy is a crucial aspect in the world today. Access to vital information can be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the subject at hand. That is why for example, countries like the United States and Britain have classified information that is accessible by a few individuals. This is to limit their economic and political vulnerability. Moreover, in hospitals, there exist patient to doctor confidentiality. Patients are always assured of information privacy and in the event that the information is disclosed to other parties then the trust is breached (Saunders, 2003). In order for health practitioners to be accused of breach of confidentiality, it must have been proven that the disclosed information was not supposed to be shared with unauthorized individuals or the public. The health practitioner is therefore liable for this breach. Ethical implications Breach of any confidential agreement has a couple of ethical and moral implications not only to the subject but to the society at large. In medicine for example, it has serious consequences to the doctor`s reputation and their relationship to their patient. This always leads to misplaced trust between the doctor, patient and the hospital in general. Patients will avoid the particular doctor for fear that their information will be shared to the public. The hospital must be in a position to convince other clients that breach of confidentiality was only a one time incident and that they had dealt with it accordingly (Saunders, 2003). Without this, patients` confidence towards the doctor and the hospital will be shaky and their confidence would be broken. This will lead to patients not accessing healthcare in the future thereby posing a risk to their health. Furthermore, breach of confidentiality also brings about legal implications. The doctor can be sued by the patient in a court of law. This act is punishable as long as there is substantiated evidence to back this claim. However, in some cases, a doctor has to breach patients` confidentiality to protect the patient or the society. Obligations towards the good of the public can be when the doctor has to disclose the medical condition of a patient to the police or relevant parties in the event that he/she is a suspected criminal. Patient`s information can also be shared in situations of drug abuse and child protection. A doctor always has divided loyalties when caught in these two situations. Should he/she disclose the fact that a patient is a drug addict for him/her to get help (Saunders, 2003)? Furthermore, should the doctor break the news to parent that their child is on drugs or not? Depending on the best interest of the patient, the doctor can disclose the information to the relevant individuals who can help the patient. In some cases, the pati...