The job of any specialist who belongs to the healthcare sector implies a number of ethical issues that might appear while communicating with patients or delivering health care services to them (Seyed, Seyed, & Mohammad Esmaeil, 2013). For this reason, a person should have good conflict resolution skills to be able to act in situations of this sort and guarantee the creation of an environment beneficial for patient recovery. Besides, a number of ethical concerns peculiar to the given sphere initiate vigorous debates around certain decisions and solutions. Hence, it is possible to cogitate about a certain question to trace the process of the creation of an appropriate solution and communication with a patient.
The current ethical question implies the discovery of metastatic lesions in the process of bone scanning. However, a patient asks a specialist to conceal this very fact and not to share the given information with his wife. One could realize that the situation gives rise to a number of ethical concerns. The fact is that the specialist faces a problem related to privacy and the patient’s health. He/she could either tell the patients family about the tragic discovery and go against the patients will or conceal the fact and follow his recommendations. Both variants could be considered disputable because of the complex character of the given ethical question.
The specialist could inform the patient’s family. There are several reasons for this action. First, the person who suffers from this disease needs special care. That is why it is vital to inform all family members for them to be ready to engage in the recovery process and help their close person to improve his state. Additionally, it is obvious that the patient is in the heat of passion and could not think critically (Meawad, 2016). Besides, he still needs moral support from his/her relatives and close people. In this regard, the specialist might decide to inform people who support a patient.
At the same time, any patient has the right to privacy (Modra & Hilton, 2016) and it is for him/her to decide whether to inform people or not. In case he/she insists on concealing this information, the specialist should obviously comply with the request and hide this very data. Additionally, he/she should respect a patients desire to protect his/her family from bad news. For this very reason, this decision could also be considered appropriate as it respects the patients desire and guarantees his stable moral state.
Yet, there is hardly a decision that could be accepted as the right one in terms of the given case. However, the specialist has to choose the best option to guarantee the patients satisfaction and respect his/her rights. If to consider all aspects of the given situation, I would recommend adhering to the second variant and concealing the information about the patients disease. If I were the primary nurse, I would act in the given way. It will help me to show respect to the existing ethic norms and obtain the patients trust. Fulfilling his request, I will be able to establish good relations and help a patient to recover. Furthermore, this option also comes from my own ethic code as I am sure that any patient could insist on privacy and conceal the real state of his/her state not to scare close people.
In conclusion, the given situation gives rise to a certain ethical problem that could confuse a specialist and make him/his think about the importance of the right choice. That is why conflict resolution skills are crucial for a person who works in the healthcare sector and tends to obtain the patients trust and friendly attitude to create the positive atmosphere.
References
Meawad, S. (2016). Virtue as mediator: informing health care issues through virtue ethics and scripture. Ethics & Medicine: An International Journal Of Bioethics, 32(2), 95-107. Web.
Modra, L., & Hilton, A. (2016). Ethics: Ethical issues in resuscitation and intensive care medicine. Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, 1735-37. Web.
Seyed, M., Seyed, M., & Mohammad Esmaeil, A. (2013). Ethics of Palliative Surgery in Esophageal Cancer. Iranian Journal Of Cancer Prevention, 1, p. 8. Web.