An ethical dilemma is a circumstance, which occurs when there are two and more options, and neither decision would be right or wrong. While this is the case usually, one of the options is the better option on which route to follow. We want to make the right and best decisions for ourselves and for our beliefs while upholding ourselves to be morally and ethically just. For this assignment, we are exploring ethical issues in the workplace that are relevant to our current careers or the careers that we are preparing to pursue. We must explore the possible issues within our workplaces and focus on one in particular.
In all workplaces, there will always be issues, but sometimes we will find that there are certain issues that will be more prevalent than others will. The career that we will be taking a closer look at is the career of an Emergency Medical Technician. We provide first-line medical or emergency care for the sick and injured people at the scene of the incident, which may be in the person’s home, at an accident site or other places and while they receive transport to the hospital for care.
We typically operate in teams with one person serving as an emergency vehicle operator while the other continues to provide life-saving emergency care to the patient enroute to a medical facility. The issue we are going to focus on from the job of an Emergency Medical Technician in particular is the issue of privacy. Privacy in the medical field is of utmost importance, and there are many legal rules in regards.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE 3 When discussing privacy in the medical field, we need to look specifically at the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, otherwise known as HIPAA.
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is best known for protecting the privacy and security of patients’medical records” (Codington-Lacerte, 2014, p. 1). “HIPAA provides certain patient rights over the access, use, and distribution of personally identifiable health information, as well as criteria for information disclosures and security requirements that health care providers, insurance plans, and clearinghouses must follow” (Codington-Lacerte, 2014, p. 1). In the field of Emergency Medicine, enforcing and following these Health Insurance.
Portability and Accountability Act rules are of great importance. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are on almost every piece of paperwork, poster, and signage throughout the workplace. There can be serious consequences if the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act policy has any violations. For example, in the elevators of hospitals usually we will see signs to remind hospital staff not to discuss a patient’s information in the elevator or any other public place. Section 2: Stakeholder Analysis.
Based on our introduction, let us now take a closer look at the stakeholders in this situation. Stakeholders as we have learned are the investors, the customers, and the suppliers. In this situation, the main stakeholders would be the patients. Patients pay for health insurance and for medical care. Patients expect that when having any form of medical care that their medical and personal information is safe and will be completely protected.
If patient’s information is ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE 4 given out the wrong people, patients will feel violated and have every right to sue for a breach in confidentiality and for the violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Another stakeholder when looking at the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are the hospitals, and other medical practices or facilities. These hospitals and other healthcare offices are responsible for enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws with the staff, patients, and any hospital staff. There are legal issues that could arise if the law is not followed.
A violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws would include releasing a patient’s medical condition, diagnosis, medical test results, or any other medical information associated with the patient’s pedigree information to someone not entitled to the information. The final stakeholder that comes to mind is the federal government.
The federal government is the creators of the law. The federal government is responsible for guiding the medical field in how to enforce these laws. If there is a violation in any way of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal government is notified and they have to make the decision on how to handle the situation.
Section 3:Analysis Based on Ethical Theories Before even looking at this deeper in relation to various theories, it is necessary to clarify the overall issue. In the past, many doctors or nurses would discuss patient’s medical cases openly with disregard to who was in the room. Current laws now forbid open discussion in public places throughout the medical offices, as well as leaving information out where the information would be viewable to others who are not entitled to view these.
In the hospital ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE 5 setting most hospitals use computer programs for containing medical information. When needing to put information into the patients chart, or find out necessary information for the treatment of a patient, employees have a specific log in to use in order to access the necessary aspects of the patients chart. If the laws are not followed then those who break the law can not only be sued, but can also lose their jobs, and face possible criminal charges. The first theory that we will look at closer is going to be the view of ethical relativism.
Our text discusses ethical relativism more specifically. This is “the theory that what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right” (Shaw, 2014 page 13). When relating this to the topic we are discussing, we must realize that our society today is full of very private people. People do not want their personal information told to anyone unless they say it is okay or they give the information themselves. Releasing information without permission from the patient to the wrong people is not supposed to occur, and if it does, then morally and ethically the person who gave out the information is wrong. This ethical theory comes in account with the person’s intent.
In other words, if the medical professional intentionally released private patient information, then our society would say that act was not the right thing to do, and thus is an ethical violation according to the theory. Another theory we should take a closer look at when trying to understand the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act laws in the medical field would be teleology. Teleology looks at consequences and acting for the greater good. If the information considered private health information is given out to someone who is not entitled to the information, then the person who leaked the information was not looking out for the greater good.
For example, if a hospital employee leaked out personal medical information of a celebrity to the news media that is selfish ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE 6 and unethical. That act would be the ethical violation of the Teleology theory since the release of the celebrity’s information was not for the greater good, only for someone’s personal gain. The final theory that we should take a closer look at would be Utilitarianism.
Our text states, “Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions” (Shaw, 2014, p. 46).
In the situation, although there is no question of whether or not to use the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws at all because they do in fact create the greatest balance of good for everyone affected. Additionally, the intention of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws perfectly complies with the ethical theory of Utilitarianism; because the intent of the law was to produce the greatest good for everyone affected by the medical community’s actions.
Section 4: Conclusion and Recommendations Throughout this paper the law created by the federal government known more specifically as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was looked at in relation to ethical theories and the stakeholders. Abiding to the laws would mean that patient’s health information should be protected at all times. If there is a leak of the information then a law was broken and whoever leaked the information out is at risk to lose their job, face fines, and even criminal charges.
This law taking effect was one of the most influential moments in the health care industry. People were much more comfortable as a whole providing the necessary information because they knew their information was protected. Over the next few years, other industries need to adopt this type of law in relation to their job, and make sure the law is enforced.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE 7 Section 5: References Codington-Lacerte, C. (2014). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Research Starter Topics. Moskop, J., Marco, C. , Larkin, G. , Geiderman, J. , & Derse, A. (2005). From Hippocrates to HIPAA: privacy and confidentiality in emergency medicine–Part I: conceptual, moral, and legal foundations. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 45(1), 53-59. Moskop, J. , Marco, C. , Larkin, G. , Geiderman, J. , & Derse, A. (2005).
From Hippocrates to HIPAA: privacy and confidentiality in emergency medicine — part II: challenges in the emergency department. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 45(1), 60-67. Shaw, W. (2014). Business ethics. (8 ed. ). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.