Essay Sample on Privacy and Confidentiality in Healthcare

Introduction

Each day families, patients, and healthcare professionals are faced with legal and ethical issues in the manner in which they execute their duties. Some of the dilemmas may be related to matters medical practices, hospital management, and medical treatment. Ethical issues in healthcare call for immediate feedback, for example, making decisions for patients whenever they are not able to do so or whenever the decision to be made has been prolonged or even in situations where care must be taken. An example of such a case is where the patient is supposed to undergo medical surgery but may not be of sound mind on matters of decision making. The actions taken in ethical matters in healthcare explicitly distinguish between that which is rights and wrong. Most of the actions or decisions made today in medical practice may have a lasting effect in the field of healthcare (Hajbaghery & Chi, 2015). This paper is, therefore, premised on an ethical healthcare topic. It will, therefore, define the topic, give a compelling argument on the existing healthcare issues with supported ideas or arguments coupled with the sources appraised alternatives which may impact the dilemma both from the positive and negative dimensions. The primary topical concern is on patient privacy and confidentiality.

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Patient Privacy

The protection of the patient's information is one of the significant ethical and legal issue in the medical field. The conversation between a patient and a physician must be kept highly private especially those that relate to the individual's medical condition. In most cases, some specific provisions of the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act or the HIPAA define the exact information which can be released to particular individuals. Privacy is different from confidentiality; it is viewed as the freedom or the right of the individual patient or client to make decisions pertaining the manner in which his or her personal information is supposed to be shared. The American constitutions fail to specify the right to privacy but accord privacy rights with regards to individual healthcare decisions and concerns. The regard is extended to the healthcare information which is outlined in matters court decisions in both the state and federal statutes thus accrediting the professional code of ethics and the related organizational guidelines. An example can be noted on the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule that establishes universal national standards for healthcare data on privacy protection and those that defines the protected healthcare information (Hajbaghery & Chi, 2015). A stated objective of the HIPAA Privacy Policy is based on defining and limiting the circumstances in which a person's healthcare information may be used or disclosed to a third party.

The privacy rule and policy as established under the larger Health Insurance Portability and Accountability policy and Act of 1996, and as described by the Healthcare and Human Services Department, the rule attempts to strike a balance. One that allows for meaningful use of information while also making significant steps in the protection of people's privacy who are after acquiring healthcare healing. The rule also allows the people to seek their healthcare information and even proceed in requesting an amendment for any inaccurate information which has been recorded. In the attempt of striking balance, the healthcare rule also offers certain exceptions on the use and disclosure of protected healthcare data without the authorization of the patient pertaining matters healthcare organization operations, patients treatment, and those concerned with payments. In most events, the exceptions may be noted in a case where the government has vested particular interest on the treatment or when a third party after consultation with the patient's family would wish to play an essential role in assisting with the patient's medication. For example, clearing the hospital bill or taking the patient for further treatment (Nayeri & Aghajani, 2010).

It is also notable that there has been a continuous debate on whether the HIPAA Privacy Rule has brought a significant contribution towards strengthening the patient's privacy rights and in most events, the medical fraternity has received mixed feedbacks with some people recognizing the roles and others taking a different dimension of argument. For example, noting a few faults brought by the HIPAA. The main contribution which cannot be ignored by everyone pertains the awareness it (HIPAA) has created on healthcare information privacy and other concerns that surrounds the manner in which the information is protected, and the role played by the patients in the entire medical process. The healthcare professionals are at times on crossroads whenever they want to make decisions before the execution of a medical process and a critical decision must be made. As such, the physician may first want to understand better the medical condition of the patient before administering medication. The process may call for a consultation with another medical professional, an issue which may positively impact the final medical outcome on the patient but goes against the established ethical procedures.

The main ethical issue which may arise from the case is on consent. The physician is required to first consult the patient on whether to share the information with another healthcare provider and if the patient agrees then he will be at liberty to move ahead. In the event, the patient refuses and prefers that the information is kept confidential then the physician will have no option but to proceed with the administration of the medical procedure. It is thus notable that the ethical issue of privacy, however, significant it may be to the patient, it also brings on board other ethical issues on consent which leave the physician in a dilemma. Based on the response given by the patient, the implication after the acquisition of consent may be negative or positive.

Proposed Alternative to the Ethical Issue

As noted therein, at times the healthcare provider may be informed of what is supposed to be done but may get faced with a dilemma of what to do because of the issue of privacy and as such may not consider consultation as an issue of importance. The following are some of the alternatives which the physician may resort to; the first one is on calling the family for a separate discussion and informing them of his concern and allowing them the opportunity to deliberate. He will also do the same with the patient and finally invite everyone to a joint discussion with all facts right and the issue at hand (Nayeri & Aghajani, 2010). There exist a greater probability that the family will be persuaded to welcome a third party into the medical consultation. The other issue is based on proposing the healthcare committee in the legislature that gives particular exceptions where the health provider can veto some decisions as long as they are of importance to the patient. These alternatives are also applicable in the case of confidentiality.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality gets construed as the obligations which the healthcare professionals have on the kind of people to access the patient's record or the person to communicate to about the patient's information. It differs from privacy in that; it calls on the liberty of healthcare professionals while privacy calls on the liberty of the patient. The law recognizes the issue of confidentiality as the privileged communication that occurs between two parties based on professional grounds (Mendelson & Wolf, 2017). For example, the conversation between a patient and physician, the conversation between a nurse and other clinical providers to mention but a few. The two (privacy and confidentiality) are discussed together and have the application of similar ethical issues. For example, for a healthcare provider to share the patient's information, he or she must seek the patient's consent before making that step. Consent is, therefore, an ethical issue which features in both cases and must be respected and the decision of the patient must not be influenced in any way by any third party. In most cases, the ethical issues which arise during decision making or keeping the patient's information private and confidential usually do not affect the physician in any way; they usually affect the patient.

Conclusion

In summary, ethical issues are concerns which are common in medical practice. Perhaps, they exist because of the complexity of most of the medical cases hence calling for an inclusive engagement between the patient, the patient's family, the health provider, and other relevant stakeholders in the healthcare domain. The paper has extensively covered the ethical issue of privacy and confidentiality and how it is respected and applied in healthcare. Even though the terminologies (privacy and confidentiality) are mostly used interchangeably, the paper has discussed them differently while also bringing out the slight distinction that they share. The HIPAA has also formed a central point of argument and how it has contributed to ensuring that a patient's privacy is respected. Other issues covered are on other ethical concerns which may arise from the ethical issues discussed, for example, the case of consent and alternatives or appropriate solutions - the discussion has gone ahead to highlight some aspects of positive and negative implications as noted herein.

References

Hajbaghery, M. A., & Chi, S. Z. (2015). Evaluation of elderly patients' privacy and their satisfaction level of privacy in selected hospitals in Esfahan. Medical Ethics Journal, 8(29), 97-120.

Mendelson, D., & Wolf, G. (2017). Health Privacy and Confidentiality.

Nayeri, N. D., & Aghajani, M. (2010). Patients' privacy and satisfaction in the emergency department: a descriptive, analytical study. Nursing Ethics, 17(2), 167-177.