Discuss about the Mandatory Report Laws and Identification of Severe.
Since ages ago, the society has had some defined way of behaving that is considered right. Whereas these change with generations, the moral principles that an individual is obligated to uphold by the society define whether their behaviour is right or wrong. Different societies too have some act/behaviours that are unanimously agreed to be right and some others that are known to be wrong. In the past few centuries, the moral principles or ethics have greatly evolved. For instance, with the development of various professions such as that of health care, ethics have also diversified. In the modern day, maintenance of ethical standards is highly valued. In fact, most professions have a professional code of conduct/ethics that defines what is expected of them. Health care ethics are those moral principles that are set to maintained within the health care environment. While some are universal such observing human dignity, others are more specific to the healthcare environment. Ethical requirements in the healthcare environment aim to provide the highest possible quality of care. A breach of the ethical principles and standards could significantly lower the quality of care and should always be avoided (Hall, Orentlicher, Bobinski, Bagley and Cohen, 2018). Such a breach could amount to professional misconduct or even a violation of the law. This essay is going to look at the ethical issues raised in case study 3. This will involve identification of the ethical issues, analysis of the ethical issues and recommendations for professional practices.
There are several issues relating to health care ethics that have been raised in case study 3. Some of the issues regard to upholding of ethical standards while others regard a breach of the same. The first unethical issue that could be associated to the case study is child abuse. A two-year-old child (Milly) has possibly been physically abused. This is evidenced by the suspected fracture of the humerus and the round shaped burns around Milly’s leg and abdomen. A child is vulnerable to abuse and ethics call for protection from this (Fraser and Stasa, 2017). The suspected perpetrator of this act is Sandra’s partner who is intoxicated at the time of arrival of paramedics. The second unethical conduct is perpetrated by Sandra’s husband who abuses both the paramedics and Sandra. Verbal abuse signifies a great disrespect for a person. Ethical standards of conduct call for polite language when communicating with a person(s) because of the dignity bestowed on human beings. Abuse is a clear demonstration of contempt and disrespect to the human dignity.
It is important to appreciate some ethical practice in the case study. Professional conduct requires that a person practice only on areas in which they are licenced and trained. The paramedics uphold this professional conduct by giving initial care before taking Milly to seek more professional help from a health care facility. It is also commendable that the two behave in a professional and polite manner despite being verbally abused. When Sandra’s partner threatens to interfere with the process of taking Milly to the hospital, they act in an ethical manner. They inform him that they would have to call the police in case he was to do such a thing.
The other key ethical issue raised in this case study is that of mandatory reporting of child abuse. The law requires that such cases be reported to the relevant government offices. The law treats child abuse as a gross violation of the rights of a child and it is. Inflicting any form of pain or discomfort to a child who cannot reiterate amounts to a criminal offence. It is commendable that the triage nurse says she will report the matter to the doctors. It is necessary that such a matter be reported within the shortest possible time so that investigations can start, and justice be administered.
The final unethical issue to be discussed will be the professional malpractice of the agency nurse. It is obvious from the case study that she intends to use morphine drug to intoxicate herself. The drug is used in hospitals to relieve many forms of pain. It contains opium which is addictive when regularly used. One might deduct from the act, that that was probably not the first time she was doing that. It is likely that she intoxicates herself while working which is a great professional misconduct. An intoxicated healthcare worker is likely to have impaired reasoning and put their patients at risk.
Since human beings are rational in nature, their behaviour is expected to be considerate of others. According to Barak (2015), human dignity refers to the special kind of respect offered to a human being by another for the virtue of being human (rational). For one to uphold human dignity, they should behave in a way that directly or indirectly offers respect to others (Invernizzi, 2016). A person who values human dignity cannot verbally abuse others. Instead, they would use polite language even if they want to express disagreement or annoyance. The verbal abuse by Sandra’s partner is devaluing the paramedics and Sandra. While one might argue that it is due to the intoxication, there is no justifiable reason for demeaning humanity and disrespecting other people. Inflicting physical pain on the child (Milly) by Sandra’s partner is also disrespecting human dignity. Upholding it amounts to great care and protection of the child especially now that the child is vulnerable and cannot act in way. For instance, the child cannot escape.
Child abuse is a violation of the rights of a child. The child has a right to be protected. There an international human right that requires every human being be entitle to the highest possible quality of both physical and mental wellbeing (Mathews, Bromfield, Walsh and Vimpani, 2015). The national law also requires that the child receive special care because they are more vulnerable when compared to other members of a population (Williams, 2002). The physical pain inflicted on the child (Milly) is breach of this requirement of the law and should be dealt with by the court for administration of justice.
It is a breach of the professional code of conduct for a health worker to be intoxicated when working. As seen in the previous section, this would likely impair the reasoning of the affected individual which would consequently lower their ability to offer quality care. The behaviour of the agency nurse is likely to lead to this. Injecting herself with a dose of morphine would inevitably intoxicate her. When it comes to legislative requirements, it is necessary that any case of child abuse be reported. This falls under the category of mandatory reporting where the law makes it a must to report such cases (Scott and Fraser, 2015). In the case, abuse of Milly must be reported. The four principles of health care ethics are autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice. A medical operation is considered ethical when the four are upheld. In the case study, the paramedics did not fail to uphold any of the principles.
Considering the events of the case study, some recommendations of what would amount to be professional practice will be discussed next. One is that the agency nurse should be reported to the agency she works for as her behaviour amounts to professional malpractice. It is highly recommendable that healthcare professionals maintain their professional code of ethics to offer the highest possible quality of care. Another recommendable action is immediate reporting of the suspected case of child abuse. Such a move would make the administration of justice timely. In addition, it will be abiding by the law. This is because the law requires mandatory reporting of all such cases. The final recommendation would be offering comprehensive care to Sandra since it seems that she is living with an abusive partner.
Conclusion
Ethics are an important component of our daily living. They are the moral principles that has been shaped by the society since ages ago. In the modern day, ethics have evolved to include professional code of ethics for different fields of professionalism. An analysis of case study 3 has shed some light on ethical issues. The ethical issued in the case study include child abuse, use of abusive language, mandatory reporting of child abuse, the maintenance of professional code of conduct by the paramedics and professional malpractice by the agency nurse who intends to intoxicate herself with morphine. Child abuse and use of abusive language is disrespectful and fails to maintain human dignity. In addition, child abuse is a violation of human rights. Mandatory reporting of child abuse is a legislative requirement. Milly’s abuse must therefore be reported. There are four principles of healthcare ethics and the paramedics did not breach any. The recommendations for professional practice would be immediate reporting of Milly’s physical abuse, reporting the agency nurse to her employers and temporarily withdrawing her services to allow investigations.
References
Williams, G. (2002). Human rights under the Australian Constitution. Oxford University Press, USA.
Fraser, J., & Stasa, H. (2017). 2 Child rights in Australia. Paediatric Nursing in Australia: Principles for Practice, 24.
Invernizzi, A. (2016). The human rights of children: From visions to implementation. Routledge.
Hall, M. A., Orentlicher, D., Bobinski, M. A., Bagley, N., & Cohen, I. G. (2018). Health care law and ethics. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Mathews, B. P., Bromfield, L., Walsh, K. M., & Vimpani, G. (2015). Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia-Report for the ACT Government. Commonwealth of Australia.
Scott, D., & Fraser, J. (2015). Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect by health professionals. In Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect (pp. 381-393). Springer, Dordrecht.
Kangasniemi, M., Pakkanen, P., & Korhonen, A. (2015). Professional ethics in nursing: an integrative review. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(8), 1744-1757.
Barak, A. (2015). Human dignity: the constitutional value and the constitutional right. Cambridge University Press.
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