NURS1003 Case Study: Analyzing Legal & Ethical Nursing Obligations

This case study delves into the ethical and legal obligations of nurses, focusing on a scenario where a nurse, Stephanie, breaches patient confidentiality by disclosing a patient's (Billy) health condition to a friend, which then leads to the information being published in a newspaper. The analysis explores whether Billy has grounds to sue Stephanie and whether Stephanie fulfilled her ethical duties as a medical professional. The discussion references the Code of Ethics for nurses in Australia and the Code of Good Medical Practice, emphasizing the importance of patient confidentiality and the potential consequences of violating this trust. The study concludes that Stephanie is liable for her actions and must face the appropriate penalties under Australian law, reinforcing the critical need for medical practitioners to uphold ethical and legal standards in all circumstances. Desklib provides this document as a resource for students.

Knowledge of ethical
and legal aspects as
related to the nursing
discipline

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Discussion: ............................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The ethical behaviour of nursing includes many acts done by the nurses while
practising their profession. The main responsibilities and duties of the nurse includes the
confidentiality, justice, accountability, veracity and fidelity. This would mean that the nurse is
responsible to keep the personal information of the patients confidential. Moreover, it is the
prime duty of every nurse to do the best right for their patients in all the conditions where there is
such requirement(Deschenes and Kunyk, (2020)). This essay discusses about the legal and
ethical obligations and duties of the nurse. It explains about the ethical code of conduct that must
be practices by each and every medical staff of the hospital. This is so because these medical
people retain the confidential personal information of the patients who are admitted into their
hospitals. Further more, the nurse must not cause any harm to the patient for whom she is
nursing with.
MAIN BODY
There are various legal and ethical principles related to nursing profession that are
discussed in this essay. The nurse must not discriminate between the patients. There must be the
equal treatment that is ethical should be done to every patient.
Discussion:
Legal and ethical issues-
1. Whether Billy is liable to sue Stephanie?
2. Whether Stephanie has fulfilled her ethical duty as a medical professional?
Both these issues are discussed below in detail as follows-
Whether Billy is liable to sue Stephanie?
In the above case study, there are mainly two parties of the case. The first party is Billy
who is the patient in the hospital. The second party of the case is Stephanie who is training as a
nurse in the hospital. In the given case scenario, the medical practitioner Stephanie comes under
the Code of Ethics for nurses in Australia. Further more, the Stephanie is bound to follow the
obligations as prescribed under the law. There are various obligations and duties as specified in
the code such as right to information to the patients, respect the patients, etc. in addition to this
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the nurse is bound not to discriminate between the patients of the hospital(Johnstone, (2019)).
But , in this case scenario the duty that is prescribe under value statement 4 of Code of Ethics
for Nursing. The statement 4 includes that every nurse is bound to keep the confidential
information of patients which is received by them during their professional capacity. There fore,
the nurse must not reveal the personal information of the patient to anyone who is seeking for
that information(Mammen, et.al, (2018)). This is because the patient has to give the correct
information related to the health and personal issues to the hospital in order to access to right
treatment by the medical practitioner in the hospital. This is because in the absence of such
information, the medical practitioner would not be able to treat rightly to the patient. Therefore,
the patient is also bound to tell the truth about himself related to the health issues he is suffering
from in order to get the correct treatment by the doctor. So, there is a very narrow line of trust
between the patient and the medical practitioner related to the revelation of the personal
information. Hence, that narrow line must not be broken by the medical practitioner in any
condition. This is because if the medical practitioner would reveal the reality of the patient, then
it may cause the case of defamation and huge loss to the identity of the patient. Hence, this
principle of trust must be fulfilled in all the conditions (Searby and Burr, (2020)).
In the present case, the Billy is totally liable to sue Stephanie. This is because Stephanie
has disobeyed her duties as a medical practitioner. The Stephanie must not told about the severe
health condition of throat cancer of Billy to her friend. Moreover, the Stephanie is bound to fulfil
her obligation to keep the confidential information related to Billy to herself only. Further more,
the reporter is the next case for which he published the news about the throat cancer of Billy in
the newspaper. The nurse was also liable even if the reporter didn't published the news in the
newspaper. She is liable for telling the confidential information to her friend. Hence, the Billy
can sue Stephanie in the courts of Australia in order to seek justice.
Whether Stephanie has fulfilled her ethical duty as a medical professional?
The Code of Good Medical Practice describes about the conduct in which the medical
practitioner must work. This code also specifies about the ethical and legal conduct of the
medical practitioners of Australia. This code details about various provisions that must be
followed by every medical practitioner of the country. This code also provides for the right of the
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patient that the medical practitioner must fulfil. It provides that the medical practitioner must not
reveal the personal information of the patient in any condition.
In the present case study, the Stephanie has not obliged with her ethical code of
conduct. This is because she has told the confidential information of her patient to her friend.
This act must not be done by her in any condition as prescribed under the law. She have to face
the consequences of this act done by her. Furthermore, she could have to pay the penalty for this
unethical act done by her(Weir, (2020)).
CONCLUSION
The above essay concludes about the code of conduct that must be followed by the
medical practitioner in all the conditions. It also summarises about the provisions related to
confidentiality of the personal information of the patient by the medical practitioner. It details
about the two laws that deals with the code of conduct of medical practitioner. Moreover, the
medical practitioner Stephanie is guilty in this case and must be held liable for penalty as under
the law of the Australia.
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REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Deschenes, S., & Kunyk, D. (2020). Situating moral distress within relational ethics. Nursing
ethics, 27(3), 767-777.
Johnstone, M. J. (2019). Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Mammen, B., et.al, (2018). Newly qualified graduate nurses’ experiences of workplace incivility
in Australian hospital settings. Collegian, 25(6), 591-599.
Searby, A., & Burr, D. (2020). State of the workforce 2020: Mapping the alcohol and other drug
(AOD) nursing workforce in Australia and New Zealand. Drug and Alcohol Nurses of
Australasia (DANA).[Accessed 26 November 2021]. Available from: URL: https://www.
danaonline. org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DANA-workforce-2020-final-report. Pdf.
Weir, M. (2020). Law and Ethics in Complementary Medicine: A handbook for practitioners in
Australia and New Zealand. Routledge.
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