1. I need just one page for this assignment. Please, no plagiarism
This week the focus is on ethical issues surrounding death and
dying. Your readings and the videos provided definitions of
four different documents considered necessary for proper
management of end of life decisions. Choose two of these
documents and briefly compare and contrast their use, benefits
and disadvantages. Remember to support your information!
READING
Although there are many different legal and ethical issues that
health care professionals might face in the health care industry,
the most common issues are related to confidentiality, consent,
and patient rights.
Confidentiality
Perhaps one of the most important issues that health care
professionals encounter on a daily basis is the issue of
confidentiality. It is defined as the need to protect and keep
private any information about an individual that is deemed
privileged. This could include a range of information such as
various medical problems, addictions to drugs or alcohol,
sexually transmitted disease, mental illness, and anything else
related to a person’s medical condition or history (Marshall,
2004).
Medical professionals are "bound both legally and ethically as
employees to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patient–
physician interactions" (Marshall, 2004). This same right to
confidentiality can be applied in virtually any health care
setting. Discretion regarding this must be exercised, especially
in seemingly innocent situations.

2. Take for example, two nurses conversing in an elevator. They
are discussing their day and one of them brings up Mrs. Jones
and proceeds to talk about the details of her office visit.
Another person joins them in the elevator and overhears the
whole conversation. She happens to know Mrs. Jones and
cannot believe what Mrs. Jones is being treated for. The person
immediately calls her friends and spreads the news of what is
really wrong with Mrs. Jones. Is this a breach of confidentiality
even though it was not done on purpose? Did the nurses breach
both their ethical and legal duties to protect the confidentiality
of the patient? The answer is yes to both questions because the
nurses, though unintentionally, breached Mrs. Jones’s right to
confidentiality by discussing her private information where
others could hear it.
Consent
Patient consent is also another very important topic in health
care. As a health care provider, it is your duty both ethically
and legally to obtain informed consent from a patient before a
procedure is performed. Informed consent is defined as the
process by which the physician informs the patient of the risks,
benefits, and alternatives to a particular procedure in words that
the patient can understand. In addition, when obtaining this
consent, the patient must not be pressured to sign the consent
and must be fully capable of understanding the procedure along
with all of its risks and benefits (Marshall, 2004).
Patient Rights
Just as patients have certain responsibilities when it comes to
their own health care, they also can expect to have rights as
health care consumers. To accomplish this, the American
Hospital Association (AHA) drafted what is known as the
patient bill of rights. In this bill of rights, both the patients and
health care providers are aware of what is expected in terms of

3. the patients' care (Marshall, 2004). A sampling of these rights
include the following (Marshall, 2004):
· The right to considerate and respectful care
· The right to all necessary information regarding their care,
including the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the proposed
treatments
· The right to informed consent
· The right to refuse treatment while still being informed of the
consequences of this refusal
· The right to expect a reasonable continuity of care
· The right to confidentiality of the patient’s personal and
protected health care information
· The right to discuss the patient’s condition or treatment
options in a discreet manner, and to exclude any person not
directly involved in the care of the patient from the discussion
Conclusion
The issues shared here are only a sampling of the issues that
one may face as a health care professional. It is important,
before acting on any of these or other issues, to first consider
the ethical and legal obligations that one has as a medical
professional.
Reference
Marshall, J. (2004).
Being a medical clerical worker
(3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

4. Other Resources
Boucher, N. A. (2016). Direct engagement with communities
and inter-professional learning to factor culture into end-of-life
health care delivery.
American Journal of Public Health
,
106
(6), 996-1001. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303073
Database: Academic Search Complete
Jacobs, C. A. (2014). Legal issues involved in 'do not
resuscitate' orders.
Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting
,
25
(2), 30-35. Retrieved from http://www.aalnc.org/page/the-
journal-of-legal-nurse-consulting
Database: CINAHL Plus with Full Text
Mendes, F. R. (2013). Active ageing: A right or a duty?
Health Sociology Review
,
22
(2), 174-185. doi:10.5172/hesr.2013.22.2.174
Database: Academic Search Complete
Schlairet, M. C., & Cohen, R. W. (2013). Allow-natural-death
(AND) orders: Legal, ethical, and practical considerations.
HEC Forum, 25
(2), 161-71. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10730-012-9181-1

5. Database: ABI Inform Collection
Stabile, B., & Grant, A. (2016). How do we die?. Politics & The
Life Sciences, 35(2), 69-74. doi:10.1017/pls.2016.12
Database: Academic Search Complete
Victoria, K., & Patel, S. (2016). The Palliative Care Information
Act and access to palliative care in terminally ill patients: A
retrospective study.
Indian Journal of Palliative Care
,
22
(4), 427-431. doi:10.4103/0973-1075.191774
Database: CINAHL Plus with Full Text