Medical Ethics and Breach of Confidentiality

This article discusses the importance of medical ethics in nurse-patient relationships and the impact of breach of confidentiality on patients. It also highlights the role of the Ministry of Saudi Arabia in reducing such cases and enforcing precautions on healthcare professionals.

Running head: MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Topic: MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Over the years medical ethics has become an important factor regarding the medical
issues and healthcare across the world. It has maintained its area over more than 40 years,
where the term good medical ethics include a broader sense of values and issues dominating
medical ethics. Good medical ethics is a term related with the core definition of medical
ethics which is more applicable especially in cases where the relationship between nurse and
patient is concerned. Good medical ethics should have the aim of ensuring that most of the
human beings can avail the possible highest standards of health which can be attained by the
patients (Serour ,2015). Issues involving social considerations as well as community
solidarity have made a distinct difference in biomedical ethics (Dawson, 2015). Despite
various consensus involving medical ethics as well as increased levels of professionalism, no
such specific goals are defined for the practice of medical practitioners as well the various
skills learnt by health care professionals (Carrese et al.2015). There has been a strange
alignment of medical ethics with religious overviews. Historically, they play an important
role in the thinking of various ethics and has a strong influence on the subject even though it
is only tacitly (Runciman, Merry and Walton,2017). The following paragraphs give an
overview of medical ethics being an integral part of nursing practices and the impact breach
of confidentiality can have on the affected patients and the care to be taken by the health care
professionals during such emergencies. Furthermore, the essay also focusses on the role
played by the ministry of Saudi Arabia in reducing the number of cases pertaining to breach
on confidentiality among the primary health care centres and the precautions enforced on the
group of health care professionals.
Medical ethics is important and good for a number of tasks as it is coherent, illuminating,
reasonable, accurate as well as well measured form of ethics which is mainly for resolving
ethics in medical dilemmas (Rhodes,2015). Over the years the practice of respecting and
abiding by the various theories of medical issue s has been continuing for a long time.

2MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
However, various problems arise recently due to various factors and inequities among the
health care professionals leading to breach in confidentiality and related issues. One of the
issues regarding confidentiality of the patient is properly understanding the different attitudes
of the health workers. Such issues are vital in the improvement of the quality of care given to
therapeutics, improvement of the health outcomes, enhancing the mentality of the patients
regarding the present system pertaining to health delivery. As far as medical ethics are
concerned, Limentani suggests that medical ethics are central elements regarding the quality
of care given to the patients alongside the quality of practice pertaining to medical issues.
Such ethics are opposed by other scientists who claim that most of the times, enough time is
not devoted for the pedagogy of issues like teaching of ethics, confidentiality along with
medico legal issues (Barnie et al.2015). Medical healthcare in Saudi Arabia has come a long
way. For application of 21st century solutions in research related to biomedical healthcare.
Various genomic research foundations have been established in the council of Gulf including
other nations, like Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (Abu Elmagd et
al. 2015). Healthcare in Saudi Arabia has suffered setback due to a number of factors faced
by health care professionals. Through research studies conducted, it has been found that
health care professionals often lack the ability of updating, performing, viewing, as well as
disseminating Electronic health records (EHRs) alongside various tests results conducted by
various laboratories who visit a number of hospitals during their tenure. Another pivotal
barrier is the lack of safe, security and privacy among majority of healthcare professionals
(Almuayquil, Atkins and Sharp, 2016). The proper use of medical ethics is one of the pivotal
roles of nurses in their practices. There are various religious beliefs regarding medical ethics.
For example, Muslim communities believe in the suffering as a signal of test from god apart
for regular medical interventions. Such opinions are different in European countries as where
euthanasia can also be considered which is not allowed in countries like Saudi Arabia. Apart

3MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
from patients confidentiality other factors affecting the usual practices of nursing are
unavailability of usual services, inability of affording the usual healthcare, and
underutilisation of the present services pertaining to health care.(Felemben, Connor and
McKenna,2014).
Confidentiality is a term where breach of the obligations could erode the possibilities of a
healthy relationship or impede its natural growth subsequently affecting a stable therapeutic
relationship between the patient and the nurse (Hartzog,2014). Studies conducted for finding
the mentalities of health care practitioners reveal that cases of suicidal instincts was noted
among patients as a result of which they had resorted to strict rules and regulations involving
increased confidentiality among the patients (Elgar, Handtke and Wangmo, 2015). Breach of
confidentiality can be seen in various forms among hospitals and health cae centres. For an
instance, a confidentiality breach is disclosing the sexual orientation of the apatite to her
siblings by her consultant Moreover, breach can also take place in cases where an Health
Care consultant have given o left or vital information out the patient and private matters in
any part of the hospital especially social places like cafeteria. The personals who are mostly
involved in the breach of confidentiality cases are individuals who provide health care ethics
consultations in various clinical settings (Tarzian, Wocial and ASBH clinical ethics
consultation affairs committee,2015). A study committed about breach of confidentiality
among army personnel engaged in deployment services, almost 44% of people, it harms their
careers as well as due to denial in security clearance. This often led to increase in the number
of Acute Stress Disorders and other stress disorders involving anxiety (Rowan et al..,2014).
Various cases have been reported regarding breach of confidentiality among health care
professionals in settings of hospitals across the world. Cases from the Utah department. Apart
from Utah, even department of health of South Carolina have reported data’s of breach
through an employee leaking information of personal account of 28000 patients regarding

4MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Social security numbers and other personal information. nt of health has reported leakage of
information of PHI(Personal health information) . Medical personnel have been involved in
removal of information using server. Companies like Alere Hoe Monitoring which provides
monitoring services regarding health have discovered an encrypted file containing all useful
information regarding he personal details of patients of patients. Nurses as well as healthcare
professionals should follow few rules for maintaining confidentiality of the information
gathered from the patients. For this, maintaining a trusting environment by respecting
patient’s privacy is important for cases involving sexual, public health psychiatric health
conditions, such information should be shared by the family members as well. Moreover
nurses should also follow a duty of care while respecting confidentiality among patients.
Moreover, nurses should also spend time with the patients helping to make decisions on their
own and their primary role is strict maintenance of the confidential information of patients
especially which reveals any kind of personal information. Theoretically, the information
should not be exploited for kind of personal, financial or commercial gain (Price, 2015).
Hence complying by the rules and regulations for a stable relationship formation between the
patient and nurse, various health care professionals along with their nurses will be successful
in their various endeavours. Moreover, reduction of the cases pertaining to and kind of
confidentiality issues will allow professionals to maintain a stable and healthy therapeutic
relationship with the patient.
Saudi Arabia is one of the nations who has gained increases in its population as well as
availability of medical resources recently. Thus, various changes and improvisations have
been carried out in Saudi Arabia regarding maintenance of medical ethics and reduction in
the number of cases pertaining to breach of confidentiality. Recently, there has been an
increases in the number of cases regarding ethical issues in Saudi Arabia especially in the
healthare sector, and health cases which give primary importance on the prioritization of

5MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
healthcare and related issues. Thus , the government has taken special measures for the
orientation of various ethical ssues ad implementing them during critical conditions (Al-arifi,
2014). Since religious laws have an important role to play in the proper carrying out of
medical ethics, cases involving breach of confidentiality has a strong impact on the various
factors in nursing and heath care professionals pertaining to medical ethics in Saudi Arabia.
Cases involving breach of confidentiality have been reviewed in professionals in Saudi
Arabia. According to Muslim community, Muslim fatwas believe in older laws of medical
confidentiality which addresses strictly the obligation of maintenance of confidentiality
pertaining to medical cases and disclosure of confidential information is mandatory. Fatwas
across the world inviting various members of the health as well as health sciences for
inclusion of medical confidentiality in the implementation of various programs They have
even encouraged teachers to include it in the part of their curriculum along with increased
research and interest in matters pertaining to the issues involving medical confidentiality.
Various research bio banks have been developed for offering resources regarding study
materials of medical cases. However the various ethical issue involve breach of
confidentiality of the data which is shred among the students especially details of blood
donors and related issues (Alahmad and Dierickx,2014). Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health
has taken strict measures for the implementation of rules regarding safety and confidentiality
of information of the patients. Saudi’s Patient’s Bill of Rights has been passed back in 2006
containing 12 items. The bill has been passed for ensuring the ethical treatment of all
included patients and it ensures t increases the confidence level of the patients and play an
active role in maintaining their fitness and healthy lifestyles. Studies have been conducted for
investigating the knowledge of health care professional regarding breach of confidentiality
among patients being the fundamental patient’s rights. It has been found that although there is
increased awareness and knowledge about the patients’ rights, they lack basic information

6MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
regarding existence of the bill passed by government of Saudi Arabia and its included
contents (El-Sobkey, Almoajel,Al-Muammar,2014). Hence, maintenance of various factors
pertaining to the laws and regulations regarding cases revolving around confidentiality
breaches cause an upliftment in the present system of healthcare of the country, ensuring
safety and security of the patients. Allowing such strict law and order system will lead to
increases in the aavailable medical and healthcare systems especially in countries like Saudi
Arabia.
Thus, from the following factors, it can be concluded that medical ethics plays an
important role in nurse-patient relationship and all factors pertaining to respect ad care of the
patients is necessary for a healthy environment in healthcare. Medical ethics aim at providing
the highest quality of care expected by the patients. Moreover, healthcare practitioners and
nurses should abide by the usual rules and regulations in Medicare ethics. Many cases have
been reported all over the world related to revealing or leakage of important information from
hospitals or private health care centres. Respecting personal information of the patient is of
utmost importance as breach of such respect often leads to severe consequences. Various
governmental laws and policies have been implemented for providing confidentiality in terms
of private information especially regarding issues related to sexuality, and physical or related
forms of harassment. Several cases of breach of confidentiality often occur where important
information related to the private information of patients is disclosed without their prior
consent and this often has a negative impact on the mental status of patients, often leading to
suicidal impacts as well. Hence, proper alignment of the rules of medical ethics as well as
cases pertaining to medico legal ethics are important alongside proper precautions taken in
reducing the number of cases related to breach of confidentiality among patients of hospitals
or any kind of health care centres. Once, such cases are kept under controls and programs
reducing it are implemented, this will lead to a safe environment pertaining to healthcare.

7MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY

8MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
References
Abu-Elmagd, M., Assidi, M., Schulten, H.J., Dallol, A., Pushparaj, P.N., Ahmed, F.,
Scherer, S.W. and Al-Qahtani, M., 2015. Individualized medicine enabled by genomics in
Saudi Arabia. BMC medical genomics, 8(1), p.S3.
Alahmad, G., Hifnawy, T., Abbasi, B. and Dierickx, K., 2016. Attitudes toward medical
and genetic confidentiality in the Saudi research biobank: An exploratory
survey. International journal of medical informatics, 87, pp.84-90.
Alahmad, G.H. and Dierickx, K., 2014. Confidentiality, informed consent and children's
participation in the Saudi biobank governance: A comparative study. EMHJ-Eastern
Mediterranean Health Journal, 20(11), pp.681-689.
Al-Arifi, M.N., 2014. Community pharmacist perception and attitude toward ethical issues
at community pharmacy setting in central Saudi Arabia. Saudi Pharmaceutical
Journal, 22(4), pp.315-325.
Almuayqil, S., Atkins, A.S. and Sharp, B., 2016. Ranking of E-Health barriers faced by
Saudi Arabian citizens, healthcare professionals and IT specialists in Saudi
Arabia. Health, 8(10), p.1004.
Barnie, B.A., Forson, P.K., Opare-Addo, M.N.A., Appiah-Poku, J., Rhule, G.P., Oduro,
G., Adu-Sarkodie, Y. and Donkor, P., 2015. Knowledge and Perceptions of Health
Workers’ Training on Ethics, Confidentiality and Medico-Legal Issues. Journal of clinical
research & bioethics, 6(1).
Carrese, J.A., Malek, J., Watson, K., Lehmann, L.S., Green, M.J., McCullough, L.B.,
Geller, G., Braddock III, C.H. and Doukas, D.J., 2015. The essential role of medical ethics

9MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
education in achieving professionalism: the Romanell Report. Academic Medicine, 90(6),
pp.744-752.
Dawson, A.J., 2015. Ebola: what it tells us about medical ethics. Journal of medical
ethics, 41(1), pp.107-110.
Elger, B.S., Handtke, V. and Wangmo, T., 2015. Paternalistic breaches of confidentiality
in prison: mental health professionals’ attitudes and justifications. Journal of medical
ethics, pp.medethics-2013.
El-Sobkey, S.B., Almoajel, A.M. and Al-Muammar, M.N., 2014. Knowledge and attitude
of Saudi health professions’ students regarding patient’s bill of rights. International
journal of health policy and management, 3(3), p.117.
Felemban, E., O’Connor, M. and McKenna, L., 2014. Cultural view of nursing in Saudi
Arabia. Middle East Journal of Nursing, 101(1505), pp.1-7.
Hartzog, W., 2014. Reviving Implied Confidentiality. Ind. LJ, 89, p.763.
Price, B., 2015. Respecting patient confidentiality. Nursing Standard, 29(22).
Rhodes, R., 2015. Good and not so good medical ethics. Journal of medical ethics, 41(1),
pp.71-74.
Rowan, A.B., Varga, C.M., Clayton, S.P. and Martin Zona, D.M., 2014. Career impacts
and referral patterns: Army mental health treatment in the combat theater. Military
medicine, 179(9), pp.973-978.
Runciman, B., Merry, A. and Walton, M., 2017. Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide
to getting it right. CRC Press.

10MEDICAL ETHICS AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Serour, G.I., 2015. What is it to practise good medical ethics? A Muslim's
perspective. Journal of medical ethics, 41(1), pp.121-124.
Tarzian, A.J., Wocial, L.D. and ASBH Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs Committee,
2015. A code of ethics for health care ethics consultants: Journey to the present and
implications for the field. The American Journal of Bioethics, 15(5), pp.38-51.