The case of duty to warn remains an essential in instances where patient confidentiality is required. Professional practice of healthcare demands that a client is treated with honesty, integrity, respect and above all, in an ethical manner. Revealing certain information regarding the patient remains a major challenge for many nurses. They are usually struggling to understand the essential features of heath care relationship. Nonetheless, it is also important to highlight the significance of clinical assessment, the expectation of accuracy of threat, and who should be warned. As a matter of fact; the limit of confidentiality as they apply to the duty to protect by warning is always well-defined.
The limit of confidentiality is well-stipulated in various states where broad responsibility to the citizens is linked to that of the medical practitioner. In various states, there are numerous legislations aimed at ensuring that there is a right balance between aptitudes of privacy to clients and the need to defend the authority’s citizens from harm. All jurisdictions in the United States have laws that limit on confidentiality of information that is necessary in protecting certain individuals from a given kind of harm (Sisti, Caplan & Rimon-Greenspan, 2013). For instance, the mandatory reporting necessities for the suspected abuse and neglect or exploitation and self-neglect of vulnerable people in the society. In all the cases, the significance of preventing harm remains an essential element and most mental health professionals are barely required to provide past criminal activity reports.
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The duty to warn and protect clients whom have been identified as the third parties from harm of one’s client remains a major challenge to most health care professionals. For instance, the ruling in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California presents a great example. Although the ruling was only legally binding to the California State, it has had enormous impact in setting legal standard in the whole of America (Dolgoff, Harrington & Loewenberg, 2012). It is interesting to note that in most states, there is duty to warn and protect statutes.
When it comes to the significance of clinical assessment, the expectation of accuracy of threat, and who should be warned; it is vital to understand a number of issues. One of the issues is the idea of first ensuring that the nurse has assessed the situation before making any decision. This is integral in helping the medical practitioner in making a well-informed decision based on the essential factors. Additionally, the professional medical attendant is required to show some level of an expected accuracy and the eventual threat that looms in case a decision has been made (Sisti, Caplan & Rimon-Greenspan, 2013). In this line, patients’ confidentiality remains part and parcel of the Nursing Code of Ethics and it remains the duty of the nurse or the medical practitioner to uphold privacy when handling patient’s information. Nonetheless, there are occasions when a nurse may breach confidentiality. One such instance is when patient voices harm to themselves or others, particularly, in cases of sexually transmitted (STDs). The conundrum of confidentiality demands that nurses’ ethical obligation is to maintain client’s confidentiality (Sisti, Caplan & Rimon-Greenspan, 2013). The values and ethical standards must be met to ensure that nurses do not infringe the rights of the patients or clients they serve.
It is evident that understanding the limit of confidentiality as they apply to the duty to protect by warning remains essential for all nurses in their profession. Indeed, it remains the clinician’s mandate and ethical responsibility to maintain the confidentiality and privacy of clients and ensure that they partake in their duties within the confines of the law and in an ethical manner. Although there are cases when a nurse may go against the confidentiality statute, it must be understand that these must be special cases that require special approaches.
References
Dolgoff, R., Harrington, D., & Loewenberg, F. M. (2012). Ethical decisions for social work practice . Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Sisti, D. A., Caplan, A. L., & Rimon-Greenspan, H. (2013). Applied ethics in mental health care: An interdisciplinary reader . Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
