Legal And Ethical Aspects Of Healthcare Delivery Coursework (Coursework Sample)

A Nurse’s Ethical and Legal Position: Partner Notification
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A Nurse’s Ethical and Legal Position: Partner Notification
Nurses are occasionally confronted by various legal and ethical dilemmas during their daily routine in a healthcare setting. Patient confidentiality and privacy is a fundamental principle in medical ethics. Particularly, ethical concerns regarding disclosure of a diagnosis of HIV by a health professional has been a subject of debate over the recent years. These trends follow the reluctance of newly diagnosed patients to notify their sexual partners about their health status (Ward & Bell, 2014). For example, Lena is confronted with a dilemma of whether, when and how to disclose health information of a patient who is the boyfriend of her sister. This paper discusses the appropriate course of action that I would take if in Lena’s shoes and justifications of the actions as per appropriate laws of New York State, ethical standards, professional guidelines of nursing.
Action to be Taken
There is no single approach that can fully cater for the complexities of this subject because partner notification is both an ethical and legal affair. Therefore, I would take the following course of action. The first course of action would be to inform the clinic responsible for HIV services about the patient as such departments have an appropriate approach to managing this issue. Additionally, this act would not be a breach of patient confidentiality (Ward & Bell, 2014). Secondly, I would refer the patient to a counselor who can aid in communicating with the sexual partner about their status or offer continuous counseling on the significance of being in a relationship with shared responsibility. The third approach would be to offer couple counseling to the patient and his partner where both of them are encouraged to be open and disclose their HIV status (Tesoriero, et al., 2008). To better understand this dilemma, Lena is torn between maintaining her ethical standards and legal responsibilities and the collective rights of the patient’s sexual partner. Therefore, there was a need for the nurse to find a balance in the matter and ensure that the interests of both the patient and the sexual partner are served.
Justifications of Actions
The above-described course of action is appropriate for the Lena case as it helps the nurse to maintain his or her medical ethics as well as the confidentiality of patient information within the confines of the law. According to Provision 3 of ANA Code of Ethics, protecting the privacy of the patient and confidentiality is integral in building trust in a nurse-client relationship. The existence of trust in this relationship is significant particularly in counseling the patient to notify the sexual partner of his HIV status (Olson & Stokes, 2016). Additionally, New York’s HIV Reporting and Partner Notification Law (HIVRPN), states that “an individual who has conducted a HIV test is obligated to offer advice on partner notification” (Tesoriero, et al., 2008). This stipulation justifies the act of offering counsel to the patient on how to notify the sexual partner. The same law also stipulates that the individuals offering advise are required by NYS law to “report all known contacts of an individual who has just been diagnosed with HIV” (Tesoriero, et ...