Patient Rights Considerations - Research Paper

Introduction

There is a lot that takes place in the giving of medical services to the patients by the doctors, physicians and medical practitioners. The delivery of the medical services has to be done with quite a number of considerations of the law provisions and this is mainly so to ensure that the medical practice is done in an ethical and most effective manner following all the necessary laws put in place to govern and control this practice. In the present day America, the legal provisions that govern and control the code of conduct between the patients and their doctors of physicians who are attending to them have continued to change from time to time and this change is aimed at making more thorough for successful medical service delivery.

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There are those limitations that the doctors and the patients who are receiving the treatment from the doctors must observe. They have to remain confined to these limitations as provided in the American Medical Association (AMA) of Medial Ethics. This association contains a lot of regulations and specifications regarding the medical practice and it demands that these ethics be strictly adhered to and honored by the medical professionals at all times for the best of the experience. The AMA of medical ethics is not limited to the doctors only but also extends to all other relevant groups like insurers or other parties that have a role to play in the entire process of patient treatment. Discussed in this scope are the key regulations and considerations which have to be followed in the event of a patient being treated in any nursing home all across America and what exactly they provide for?

Abstract

Before anything else, the nurses or physicians need to understand the expected code of conduct that refers to them and their patients in their working environment. This clear understanding means that they need to be aware of all they need to do for the patients before, during and after the entire process of treatment in the hospitals. Understanding this is in the dimensions of the lives of the patients themselves, the security of the patients and doctors, the security of all other groups of individuals up to and including the minority groups like the children.

In an instance where the doctors seem not to be aware of their work-related ethics, many problems have occurred and may occur making the process of treating the patient quite complicated. Complications and unclear procedures in the process of patient treatment by physicians and nurses in the nursing homes means a pose of dangerous risks to the lives of these particular patients as well as all the other participating or nearby individuals. With the legal regulations put in place, everything regarding patients and doctors has been made so clear that each and every medical professional who qualifies to offer any kind of service to the patients know exactly what steps they need to follow so that they can successfully complete the process and give the best attention to their patients. All the necessary regulations as provided in the American laws and statutes, as well as the American Medical Association of Medical Ethics, have been discussed in deep details in this paper. The discussion has not been limited to the doctors and patients alone but rather has gone to the other people involved.

Discussion

As stated above, there are so many regulations that do exist in the medical field. These regulations can, in other words, be defined as the laws of patient handling in nursing homes. The regulations have to be fully considered and followed each and every time the medical practitioners are dealing with the patients in their workplace ("PATIENT RIGHTS", 2007). To give a prior hint before everything else is discussed, the regulations revolve around the behaviors of the patients and the doctors, the communication and relationships that exist between the two groups and all the other parties as well as how this communication is done, the necessity of consent by the patients, ensuring of the security of the other people and individuals among many other things.

Communication

Communication remains an important aspect in any jurisdiction and plays very vital roles regarding the relationship between the two interacting parties in any process. Therefore, in this case, effective communication between the doctors and their patients is key. The American Medical Association of Medical Ethics provides that there is a great need for good communication between the patients obtaining treatment, the doctors offering the service and the third parties that are involved directly or indirectly in the process. It is the right of the patient to communicate to the doctors whatever they feel that they need to do and make the necessary decisions regarding their treatment in the nursing homes ("PATIENT RIGHTS", 2007). Their right to air out what they feel comfortable within the event of their treatment in these particular nursing homes must not be curtailed in any way. If it happens that this right gets curtailed or violated, then it means that by all the ways possible, legal actions need to be taken on the persons who violate this right of the patients.

On the other hand, the doctors also have the core duty to make sure that they pass all the crucial information regarding the patients' health conditions to them through the appropriate communication channels. Some of the specific information that has to be communicated to these patients is the issue of the methods of treatment which are going to be used by the doctors to handle their cases, the possible or expected outcomes of these steps taken an even the final side effects of the methods of treatment that are being applied on them ("PATIENT RIGHTS", 2007). This proper communication of the necessary information to the patients will help them to determine if they are going to comply with whatever is expected of them or they will withdraw.

The Right to Patient Consent

As per the law of the American people and the medical ethics provided in the American medical association, it is very important to seek the consent of the patient during, before and after their treatment process. There are very many things that the doctor or physician needs to make their patients aware before they can embark on treating them. One of the main things that the patients must be informed about is their health status level and what is going to be done to control this situation as far as their health is concerned (Bothe, 2013). Secondly, as discussed in the case of communication, the patients need to be made aware of the consequences that are associated with any practice that is done on them in the name of being treated so that if necessary, they can be prepared and decide which way to go regarding this treatment.

Leaving behind all the other issues, it is important to note that making the patients aware of whatever has already happened to them during treatment is an important consideration in the nursing arena. This is what it means by saying making the patients aware of everything that has happened to them;

Most of the times, there occurs errors and serious mistakes when doctors or physicians are treating their patients. As a requirement by the law and the moral ethics of the nursing profession, the doctors have the duty to make sure that in case any complications or mistakes occur, they communicate these to the necessary authorities as well as the patients before these complications end up affecting the patients negatively or even costing them their lives without their knowledge ("PATIENT RIGHTS", 2007).. However, due to the fear of being sued in the courts of law or losing their jobs, most doctors and physicians have been seen to choose to remain silent and are not at any given time willing to pass the information to the patients about the mistakes they have done during the process of treating them.

The patients have the right to be informed on the mistakes that these medical practitioners make. This is important so that the patients may understand the risks they have been exposed to by this treatment. As a result, this will make them be psychologically prepared at all times in wait of anything that may result out of such complications. In addition, having this consent of everything that is going on around them is so much important when it comes to making sensible decisions that matter regarding the treatment (Hutcherson, 2001). As a provision by the laws and statutes of America and the medical ethics, violation of the issue of creating awareness and seeking of the patient's consent means that the patient can decide to sue their doctors in the law courts and very serious legal actions and punishments are imposed on them.

Giving an example of where the above issue of consent can be applied in relation to the mistakes that nurses do in their day to day work, minor and major surgeries are a good example. It happens that most of the times during surgery; the doctors make some mistakes inside and outside the body of the victim. It has been heard and seen that surgical materials have been forgotten in the bodies of the patients many times. In a case like this, when the doctors realize that the mistake has happened, the best thing they have to do is to first apologize to the victims about the occurrence of the mistakes and then communicate to the concerned authorities so that the applicable measures can be taken. This is because such mistakes pose a great risk to the lives of the patients.

Confidentiality and Privacy of Information

The patients have the right to have their health records and information about them being kept private. The doctors must ensure that they honor and respect the information of the patients at all times and must not expose it to anyone not unless with the consent and the authority of the patients. The American Medical Association (AMA) of Medical Ethics provides that the if the private data of the patients gets illegally exposed by the doctors, the doctors who expose this information should be subdued in the courts of law and fined for their actions since this is termed as a violation of the confidentiality and privacy rights of the patients (Chung, 2010). If in any case the information of the patients that is private about the patients has to be given out or rather exposed to certain parties or individuals, then the information has to be provided the form of a signed document that shows that the exposure of this information is legal and that the owner of that particular data agreed to this action and signed thus a proof that the information about them was shared with their willingness and consent.

However, it is not at all times that the patient's right to confidentiality and privacy exists or rather holds. There are certain situations that will force the physicians to expose the private information of the patients without their knowledge or without having to observe any of the legal provisions (Hutcherson, 2001). For example in a case where the current situation of the patient poses a risk to the lives of the other people around them, the physicians have to expose their information to the relevant bodies that will intervene to save the lives of the other people. In addition, child abuse is the other instance that will permit violation of the confidentiality rights of the patients in the strive to make sure that the case of child abuse is countered. In a scenario like this, the privacy and confidentiality rights of the patient will be violated and it will not be considered as wrong or illegal for the physicians to expose the information as long as they will have done so to save the lives of others.

Right to Withdrawal from Treatment

It is the right of the patients to decide where they are going to receive their medication if, at the time they are seeking me...