Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper
Ethics Case 1
Mary Lou Smith, a 40-year-old female patient, recently came to your office to be seen for depression. Her regular primary care provider (PCP) is a colleague of yours. Mary Lou is the Executive Vice President of Excellent Energy, a Fortune 100 company. During the visit she mentions that she does not want the reason for the visit recorded in her chart since a diagnosis of depression could threaten her job. You determine that she does, in fact, suffer from depression and you prescribe Zoloft. The patient forbids you from disclosing the visit to any other providers, pays cash, and does not use her health insurance to cover the cost of the visit. Furthermore, she gets her Zoloft filled at a local, independently owned pharmacy paying cash. Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper
Recently, it has come to your attention that Mary Lou did not tell her regular provider that she is taking Zoloft and has set up her personal health record (PHR) to prevent sharing this information with him. You are concerned that the failure to share this information may be detrimental to her health and cause potential adverse reaction to any drugs that may be subsequently prescribed by the PCP.
Additional questions to consider:
- How do you balance a patient’s privacy needs with your duty to ensure their health and safety?
- Should health information technology (HIT) keep patient’s psychiatric care in a separate location to protect their privacy?
A case-based approach to ethical decision-making
Adapted from AR Jonsen, M Siegler, W Winslade, Clinical Ethics, 7th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2010. Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper
MEDICAL INDICATIONS
The Principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
- What is the patient’s medical problem? Is the problem acute? Chronic? Critical? Reversible? Emergent? Terminal?
- What are the goals of treatment?
- In what circumstances are medical treatments not indicated?
- What are the probabilities of success of various treatment options?
- In sum, how can this patient be benefited by medical and nursing care, and how can harm be avoided?
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PATIENT PREFERENCES
The Principle of Respect for Autonomy
- Has the patient been informed of benefits and risks, understood this information, and given consent?
- Is the patient mentally capable and legally competent, and is there evidence of incapacity?
a) If mentally capable, what preferences about treatment is the patient stating?
b) If incapacitated, has the patient expressed prior preferences?
- Who is the appropriate surrogate to make decisions for the incapacitated patient?
- Is the patient unwilling or unable to cooperate with medical treatment? If so, why? Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper
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QUALITY OF LIFE
The Principles of Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, and Respect for Autonomy
- What are the prospects, with or without treatment, for a return to normal life, and what physical, mental, and social deficits might the patient experience even if treatment succeeds?
- On what grounds can anyone judge that some quality of life would be undesirable for a patient who cannot make or express such a judgment?
- Are there biases that might prejudice the provider’s evaluation of the patient’s quality of life?
- What ethical issues arise concerning improving or enhancing a patient’s quality of life?
- Do quality-of-life assessments raise any questions regarding changes in treatment plans, such as forgoing life-sustaining treatment?
- What are plans and rationale to forgo life-sustaining treatment?
- What is the legal and ethical status of suicide? Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper
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CONTEXTUAL FEATURES
The Principles of Justice and Fairness
- Are there professional, interprofessional, or business interests that might create conflicts of interest in the clinical treatment of patients?
- Are there parties other than clinicians and patients, such as family members, who have an interest in clinical decisions?
- What are the limits imposed on patient confidentiality by the legitimate interests of third parties?
- Are there financial factors that create conflicts of interest in clinical decisions?
- Are there problems of allocation of scarce health resources that might affect clinical decisions?
- Are there religious issues that might affect clinical decisions?
- What are the legal issues that might affect clinical decisions?
- Are there considerations of clinical research and education that might affect clinical decisions?
- Are there issues of public health and safety that affect clinical decisions?
- Are there conflicts of interest within institutions or organizations (e.g. hospitals) that may affect clinical decisions and patient welfare?
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Based on the information from the 4 boxes, summarize the following:
Case Identification
Identify the ethical dilemma
Correctly identify the two or more principles in contention
Analyze the Issue
Identify stakeholders
Identify three courses of action listing benefits and risks for each
Resolve the Ethical Issue
Identify the best option with justification
Briefly discuss hypothetical application evaluation
Briefly discuss a hypothetical evaluation Health Information Technology Essay Assignment Paper