Patient Rights Violation in Healthcare: A Case Study

Healthcare
HEALTHCARE
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Healthcare
Patient right violated in the case
The patient rights violated, in this case, are “The right to healthcare” and
“Confidentiality”. Jim being that patient was ill-treated in the present case study at
Saints Hospital emergency department nurse, doctor and receptionist (his ex-wife
Tammy). According to Jameson & Longo (2015) studies, federal healthcare laws
provide the right to healthcare to each and every individual irrespective of social
structure, inequalities, and socioeconomic status, personal and political norms.
Further, Peabody (2015) mentioned about patients right of confidentiality describing
that it is the duty of healthcare professionals to protect the privacy of patient regarding
information gathered about every patient.
In the present case of Jim, there was a violation of his ‘right to healthcare’ by
the nurse and doctor based on fake information provided by his Ex-wife Tammy. Jim
was not treated properly for his mentioned symptoms of chest pain and aching arm
further declaring depression and anxiety as detected health issues without any specific
diagnostic test and psychiatric history. The attending nurse and doctor were also rude
having inappropriate behaviour towards Jim.
Further, the hospital receptionist Tammy (Jim’s ex-wife) and emergency
department nurse violated another patient’s right that is’ right to confidentiality’. The
ER attending nurse told Jim that ‘she is already aware of Jim’s mental health issues’.
However, Jim was admitted for his physical health issues (chest pain and aching arm).
Jim was having no medical history of mental health issues neither any concern
regarding similar. This clearly indicates a loophole created by professionals in
maintaining patient’s confidentiality in this case.
As a result of this violation of patient’s rights, the case study patient Jim was
only affected because he suffered a heart attack at his home the next morning after his
medical session at Saint Hospital. The doctor instead of paying attention to Jim’s
heart disease sign’s concentrated more towards verbal information about Jim being a
mental health patient. Doctor instead of admitted him for observation or medical
diagnosis declared his situations as a ‘panic attack’ occurring due to anxiety.
This violation of patient’s right at Saint Hospital occurred due to an error in
hospital’s rules and regulations governing duty of care, confidentiality, privacy and
efficacy of healthcare services. There is a clear indication of negligence,
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