Ethics in Global Health Lena Term Paper

She must be careful that her counseling does not fall in the line of coercion.

Justice

Fairness and equity in allocation of all healthcare services; social values are not part of the decision as to who receives care.

Lena's opinion of the situation is not relevant; Mr. X's individual rights take predominance, as does the quality of his care.

Beneficence

The primary goal of medicine, help -- or do no harm. What is the best healthcare decision for a person in their particular circumstances?

To do no harm Lena has a moral obligation to protect her sister from infection; knowing that she may be doing emotional harm; however, since HIV is incurable, the choice is moot.

Non-Maleficence

Never harm intentionally and perform one's obligation to use any and all appropriate treatments to cure or prevent illness.

Lena's obligation is to prevent or cure illness; prevention is the key here. She can try with Mr. X., but ultimately she has the moral obligation to protect her sister's health.

(Grace, 2008).

Legal Perspective -- Under Provision 3.2 of the ANA Code of Ethics, the terminology reads that a nurse should maintain confidentiality of all patient information due to the patient's well-being and the trust and expected bond between patient and nurse. "Duties of confidentiality, however, are not absolute and may need to be modified in order to protect the patient, other innocent parties and in circumstances of mandatory disclosure for public health reasons" (ANA Guide, 2010).

Because of this clause, Lena would be legally entitled to tell her sister about Mr. X. Ethically, she should try to convince him to be upfront; if that doesn't work, then she should try to talk with her sister about the safety of protected sex. Only if that fails can she legally, and in view of the life-threatening potential, ethically, disclose the information about Mr. X.

REFERENCES

ANA Code of Ethics.(2010). Cited in:

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.aspx

Grace, P. (2008). Nursing Ethics Through the Lifespan. Prentice Hall.

McHale, J. And a. Galagher. (2003). Nursing and Human Rights. Butterworth Tschudin, V. (2003). Ethics in Nursing: The Caring Relationship. Butterworth