Legal standards are different from ethical standards because legal issues have been enforced by the government while ethical issues involve identifying what is right and wrong. Together, the legal and ethical standards help in healthcare decision making and should be in accordance with the patient's wishes ( Pozgar, 2019 ) . Families, patients, and healthcare professionals face ethical and legal decisions in the health care setting. This paper will discuss the different ethical and legal issues in healthcare and also how they relate to nursing.
Legal and Ethical Standards in Healthcare
One of the most important ethical issues in healthcare is patient privacy and confidentiality. Conversations and medical conditions discussed between the physician and patient should be strictly confidential and not violating the patient's trust. Another ethical issue is any relationship between medical practitioners is prohibited in healthcare facilities. Healthcare professionals should maintain appropriate boundaries and involvement with the patients. Informed consent is another ethical and legal issue. Patients and families have the right to know their medical conditions and choose treatment options. This also applies when it comes to ending life when the patients are terminally ill.
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How Legal and Ethical Standards relate to nursing
The legal and ethical issues discussed above affect nurses and healthcare practitioners. Nurses need to abide by government laws in order to make ethical decisions. They should make any decisions with caution especially where the law for any new procedures has not been well established. They need to ensure that any actions and decisions they make are in the interest of the patient and they do not cause harm. The final decisions made by the nurses should respect the patient's decisions even when they differ. Nurses should also be truthful and loyal with their patients and also the families. Nurses should also maintain an appropriate relationship with the patients and also other healthcare practitioners. They need to have a genuine concern, trust, and empathy. When mutual respect and boundaries are not met, then there needs to be an intervention (Scruth et al., 2015).
In conclusion, when all the legal and ethical decisions are met, it makes it easier for any decisions to be made by the healthcare practitioners and also the nurses. Some of the legal and ethical standards are patient confidentiality, maintaining proper relationships with either the patient or fellow practitioners, and the right to information to the patient about the health issues. As much as the nurses and medical practitioners might face different challenges when making these decisions, they still need to abide by them and strictly follow.
Reference
Pozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals . Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Scruth, E. A., Pugh, D. M., Adams, C. L., & Foss-Durant, A. M. (2015). Electronic and social media: The legal and ethical issues for healthcare. Clinical Nurse Specialist , 29 (1), 8-11.
