CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 3: MEDICAL LAW, ETHICS, AND MORAL ISSUES OF HEALTH CARE 65
a minimum the tenets of a patient bill of rights. It should outline
the meeting of certain patient expectations, including the right to
privacy for records and person, and the right of self-dignity, in
which the patient is treated respectfully.
1. Bill of rights for the patient
Relationship of Ethics and Professionalism
2. Right to privacy
Just as ethics and morals cannot be separated, ethics and professionalism
cannot be separated. There is a blending or blurring
3. Right to self-dignity
of distinction for these two words. These words may be used in
adjective or adverb forms and often mean different things to different persons.
Sometimes a code of ethics is contained along with the Patient’s Bill of Rights
as a vital part of the structure. Compiling of an organized set of ethical issues is
sometimes a legal matter and might include, but not be limited to, the expectations
of the patient for competent and adequate care.
Ethics is more than a set of rules, and practicing ethics while treating patients
should become an affective part of the medical worker’s life. The term affective is
a psychological term meaning that the individual worker should arrive at a point
that ethical practice is such a part of the life of being professional that it cannot
be separated from the worker. Cosman and Bissell (1991) state, “Ethics consists of
far more than abiding by rules, procedures, and guidelines. It represents an expression
of conscience,” which might be summed up in the word professionalism. But
the practice of ethical behavior includes much more than the surface actions of a
health care practitioner . In the health care arena, there is a responsibility for all
health care workers to treat people as they should be treated, as well as for the
careful handling of private information that should not be disseminated to the
general public, or even to another person, without a need to know. Laws related
to the treatment of patients and the protection of patients and their privacy are
established and at times modified as society and procedures change.
Appearance and grooming of the professional are the first visible signs of
professionalism that a patient may be aware of. Perhaps the next thing a patient
would recognize in the professional would be the manner of speech and the behavior
exhibited by the worker. Patients regard the health care practitioner or other
medical worker as more “professional” and place more trust in the health care
employee if he or she is dressed and groomed in a professional manner. A clean
and properly dressed health care worker does a great deal to engender confidence
in the patient and his or her family members and visitors as to the medical worker’s
abilities. Some safety issues are also involved; as an example, consideration
is given to dangling jewelry and artificial fingernails, which may interfere in the
performance of medical procedures and entangle in equipment. Long hair that is
hanging loose may also pose a risk for transmitting infections to patients, as hair
is often covered with organisms and other materials.
Formal Statements of Professionalism
Physicians have the Oath of Hippocrates , nurses recite the Nurses Creed
when they are formally capped , and facilities have mission statements that
incorporate core values and beliefs of society at large with respect to medical
Critical Reminder
All Patients Have a Right to Certain
Expectations of Health Care Facilities
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