Confidentiality
Tim Arney
Grand Canyon University
NRS 437v
Michelle Silvers
July 21, 2012
Confidentiality
Patient confidentiality and the loss of a patient’s trust as related to a television show called ER will be discussed. In this episode, a nurse named Carol Hathaway is in the middle of a teen’s medical issue and her parents. When an underage girl tells Nurse Hathaway about her sexual behavior, there are questions about the loss of confidentiality. How it affects those involved will be discussed. Confidentiality is one of the most basic principles in health care practice, and it is the most long-standing ethical dictum in health care codes of ethics. Confidentiality is the practice of keeping harmful, shameful, or embarrassing patient information within proper bounds. The right to privacy gives legal standing to this ethical principle. (Purtilo & Doherty, 2011, 206)
It is the responsibility of nurses and clinicians to be informed of the laws of their state. Knowing and understanding the rights of the adolescents, right to confidentiality is very important. This will help protecting their privacy, and help in knowing what to do in these difficult situations involving adolescents. These issues are weighing very heavy on the shoulders of nurses of whether it is ethical to inform parents or not in these types of situations (Nathanson, 2000).
It is not considered a breach of confidentiality if you share secret information with other health professionals involved in the patient's care as long as the information has relevance to their role in the case. In fact, it is deemed essential for arriving at a caring response because up-to-date, thorough information is on which high quality health care delivery to a patient depends. Some information comes from your clinical evaluation of the patient's condition; the
