Introduction
The current ethical dilemma concerns a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl who is hesitant to tell her parents about her condition. During the counseling session, she stated that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy but asked the working school-based professional to keep it a secret from her parents. This situation is further complicated because the girl’s parents are in the middle of a divorce, causing additional psychological discomfort to the high-school student. The girl is six weeks into pregnancy; therefore, if she does not terminate the pregnancy shortly after the counseling session, she might have significant side effects on her body. Ultimately, it is a complicated ethical dilemma for the social worker since they need to address the problem considering the values of integrity, confidentiality, and, most importantly, the girl’s health.
Dilemma Overview
The actual dilemma revolves around several ethical principles, including the patient’s confidentiality, dignity, and the general concept of “duty to warn.” In this case, the working professional might be tempted to report the girl’s pregnancy to their parents since they are some of her closest people who might be able to support her and her decisions. This way of thinking indirectly adheres to some principles of ethical codes, such as the “importance of human relationships” (NASW, 2021). Moreover, the counselor might feel the need to report to the parents since they better understand the girl’s life. In this case, the counselor’s hesitation in taking responsibility for life-changing decisions is understandable. Lastly, the decision-making, in this case, might depend on the religious affiliation of the affected individuals (the girl, parents, and social worker). For instance, the Bible generally implies that children are a God’s gift, “Children are a heritage from the LORD,” implying that abortion is unethical (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Psalm 127:3). Ultimately, there are several considerations as why the counselor might want to report to the girl’s parents.
Nevertheless, this approach would inevitably violate other ethical standards, including the patient’s dignity, sense of self-determination, confidentiality, and non-maleficence. According to most codes of ethics, the primary goal of the working counselor is not to harm (APA, 2017; NASW, 2021). In other words, if the counselor reports the pregnancy, they would hurt the girl’s feelings and sense of dignity, violating ethical principles. Ultimately, regardless of the social worker’s choice, they would inevitably disregard some ethical standards or moral principles, making the examined scenario a complicated ethical dilemma.
Dilemma Impact
The primary affected individual in this ethical dilemma is the pregnant girl who experiences significant emotional turmoil. Most likely, her psychological condition will only deteriorate in the near future due to the overbearing number of concerns in her life, such as pregnancy and her parents’ divorce. As a result, the ethical dilemma is a significant concern for the girl’s psychological and physical health. Consequently, this scenario affects the school-based social worker and the girl’s parents as well, albeit to a lower extent. The professional working needs to thoroughly examine the ethical codes and analyze their own moral considerations to find the best solution to the problem. Lastly, the parents might change their decision about the divorce if they learn about their daughter’s condition. As a result, the main affected individual is the pregnant girl, and the social worker/parents are secondary stakeholders.
Competing Values
Finally, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the ethical dilemma from the perspective of social work values. Namely, the six values include service, the dignity of the individual, integrity, competence, social justice, and the importance of human relationships (NASW, 2021). Although these principles are crucial to social work, Bryan et al. (2021) indicate that the standards are relatively vague and cannot always clarify ethical dilemmas. This notion applies in the current case since several values compete with each other, providing no transparent answer to the problem. Even the official code suggests that “Social workers should take into consideration all the values <…> that are relevant to any situation in which ethical judgment is warranted” (NASW, 2021, par. 9). Therefore, it is crucial to examine all competing standards to propose a solution to the dilemma.
Subjectively, the primary principle advocating for the counselor’s confidentiality concerning pregnancy is the dignity and worth of the person. The girl must have reasons to hide the truth from her parents, whether because of their divorce or personal hesitation. Nevertheless, she will suffer substantial damage to her dignity if the counselor reveals all details. The values of competence and integrity support this position as the working professional should always preserve the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality (APA, 2017; NASW, 2021). Subjectively, the primary competing value is the importance of human relationships. Namely, if the girl hides the truth from her parents, the familial bond between them might deteriorate even further. It is a complicated issue because of the parent’s divorce, which adds additional psychological strain on the whole family. Lastly, social justice and service values are relatively insignificant in this debate since the problem concerns individual problems and not social issues. Therefore, the primary conflict is between the competing values of dignity/competence/integrity and the importance of human relationships.
Conclusion
The examined ethical dilemma presents a complicated problem for all affected stakeholders, including the girl, her parents, and the social worker. There is no evident and transparent solution that might resolve all issues due to the competing values of professional integrity and the patient’s confidentiality. Ultimately, in such cases, the counselor should carefully weigh the ethical values, moral principles, and professional regulations to make the most appropriate decision.
References
APA. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct.
Bryan, V., Sanders, S., & Kaplan, L. (2021). The helping professional’s guide to ethics: Theory in practice. Oxford University Press.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. Web.
NASW. (2021). Code of ethics: English.