Dental Office Ethical Dilemmas

The way the on-site dental assistants are asking the dental assistant student to treat the patient presents an ethical dilemma that needs to be dealt with. This circumstance should be seen as a prima facie duty, which means, there is an obvious way to respond to the present situation. The obvious problems to confront are the violation of the patient’s rights as well as transgressing a portion of infection control, standard precautions. Following standard precautions means treating every patient as if they already have an infectious disease. When treating a patient, there should be no extra precautionary measures outside of the standard precautions. This patient trusts us to provide them with optimal care. They trust us to treat them with equality. These on-site assistants are treating this patient like a rabid animal. It is as if the on-site dental assistants fear the patient because of his condition. If standards precautions are being followed, the dental assistant should not need to wear a different gown, wear extra face protection, or follow a different sterilization method. The dental assistant also shouldn’t have to run the instruments through the autoclave twice. If I were the patient, and I realized I was being treated differently than the other patients, I would be

As a medical assistant I can make a patient with a skin disorder feel more comfortable by allowing the patient to tell me what they are willing to do. I would not overstep my boundaries by pushing a patient to do something that they are not comfortable with. Although if the doctor is recommending that a patient needs to show more skin than they are used to, I as the medical assistant will tell the patient why it is advised and why they should corporate. If the patient still does not want to do it, I will simply note it in their chart and let the doctor handle the situation from then on.

The Top 5 ethical dilemmas for medical assistants are Patient Confidentiality, Patient Relationships, Malpractice and Negligence, Informed Consent, and Issues Related to Physician Assisted Suicide (PAD). For the issue with Patient Confidentiality a patient information is supposed to be kept covertly. If a doctor breach a patient’s confidentiality this can hurt the patient and will result in legal and ethical action for the healthcare specialist. For the issue with Patient Relationships a physician is lawfully banned from falling into an intimate relationship with a patient in the line of providing treatment. For the issue of Malpractice and Negligence if a patient is hurt by poor medical equipment or wounded in the procedure of a medical treatment

In the late summer of August 2005 the Gulf Coast was preparing for a hurricane that no one ever imagined would be such a detriment to the beloved town of New Orleans, LA. Hurricane Katrina was a category five hurricane, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. On August 29, 2005 Katrina made land fall as a category three hurricane with wind speeds around one hundred and forty miles per hour. Evacuation efforts in the state of Louisiana were non-existent for many families including the local hospitals and nursing homes. The hospitals became shelters for the surrounding nursing home facilities, current patients, the staff, families of the staff, and even pets. One of the most unethical debates from this disaster occurred in a local hospital where patients were given lethal doses of drugs and euthanized by Dr. Anna Pou. The conditions at Memorial Hospital were anything but ideal, but no person is obligated to decide who survives and who perishes.

The Ethical Dilemma Ebony French Intro to Dental Assisting Vatterott College Courtney Oetting When working with the general public, there is a list of unsaid ethical expectations. Treat everyone with dignity and respect. Treat everyone the same, do not discriminate and so on. Unfortunately, this is not every patient’s experience.

Two of the ethical principles can be applied to this case, veracity and societal trust. We as Dental Hygienists are obligated to be always truthful, not only to our patients and associates, but also with ourselves. We must value our knowledge and express treatment options in an honest and fair way. Societal trust is an obligation and it is very important to remember that patients trust on us as health care professionals, and this trust has to be earned based on our actions and behaviors. In my opinion Sally’s behavior is considered fraud, even though she has good intentions.

In addition, the article highlighted the issue of litigation and policy context under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA’s) preemption provision. It stated that “when a law or legal action involves the administration of plan benefits, such as a state law mandating certain benefits or a patient’s challenge to the denial of a plan benefit, ERISA preemption is triggered” (Jacobson, 1999). Therefore, the states block the litigation against the managed care organizations. Lastly, the courts and public policy have been a challenge of the implementation of cost containment initiatives. Some prominent commentators have been arguing for years that health care delivery should be guided by market principles as determined through contractual

Many mental health counselors work with managed care organizations (MCOs) to provide services to clients. While managed care guidelines determine how counselors deliver services and what they will be reimbursed for, many counselors are upset with how limiting the guidelines are. It is a challenge for counselors when insurance reimbursement is denied because the MCOs are not honoring DSM codes (Braun & Cox, 2005). Therefore, counselors tend to submit inaccurate diagnoses that are reimbursable for their clients can receive services and they can be paid. However, this can lead to ethical and legal dilemmas for counselors. Braun and Cox (2005) address this issue in their article “Managed Mental Health Care: Intentional Misdiagnosis of Mental Disorders.”

Inquiry was developed the same way as I explained in the diversity section above. Understanding a patient is not solely based on what they bring to the meeting table, but are the accomplishments to reach when working on their goals within their care plans.

Protecting the public trust is of paramount consideration and a standard of care in the field of dentistry, and of particular interest to policymakers, practitioners, and patients (Jacquot). When some caregivers violate this trust, a proactive holistic approach must be sourced in order to restore patient confidence by authorities and members of the field. As most ethics violations go undetected or unreported (attribution), employing protocols to promote oversight and transparency serve as a deterrent and enable patients to better understand expert recommendations, risks, costs, and options available for treatment. This reassurance of the public trust can help overcome distrust and insecurity deriving from ethics violations by dental practitioners.

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.

Dentistry also requires a great amount of professionalism; similar to competence, the reputation I build not only represents me but the whole profession in the eyes of patients. I believe that a professional model for dental office includes the following core characteristics: protection of the community, promotion of oral health, reliable patient service, and honorable conduct both inside and outside of the office. Looking back, the committees and organizations I have been part of, such as Texas Pre-Dental Society and Vietnamese United, have helped me develop a deep sense of professionalism. In short, professionalism hinges heavily on representing your profession well and with the utmost respect.

Healthcare professionals will be faced with ethical dilemmas throughout their career, particularly in the hospital environment. Having an education regarding professional healthcare ethics will provide some direction in how to best address these dilemmas at a time when either the patient or their family is in need of making decisions for themselves or their family member. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to weigh professional protocol against their own personal beliefs and ethical understandings when determining critical care for their patient.

In a lot of ways, ethics can be very opinionated. Sure, there are guidelines such as code of conduct, but, just like things such as religion, it can be based all in how you interpret it and how you apply it. Unfortunately, many bad things are done for the “greater good.” As dentistry is gearing more towards aesthetics, ethical issues have been becoming more on the raise than ever before. Some ethical issues of concern in the dental chair would be things like patient autonomy or over-diagnosis/treatment. Now a days, more and more people have sought after that perfect “hollywood” smile. With this becoming in higher demand, restorations, such as veneers or crowns, are being used to cover up defects in the teeth rather than as a treatment to restore

After looking at various articles on the Dentaltown website, I came across an interesting article that showed an unethical dilemma. In this article, a dentist (lower-priced dentist) is talking about an 83-year-old patient that came into his office for a second opinion. The lower priced dentist mentions that the woman needed some basic dental work done to her teeth to keep them healthy. While (deleted comma) the woman was at her general dentist, the dentist was attempting to force the woman to get a more expensive cosmetic work done. Her general dentist provided her with an expensive treatment plan for approximately $14,700. Upon hearing the cost, the patient went for a second opinion from another dentist in town. After looking at her x-rays, she was given another inexpensive treatment option using composite now and later putting in crowns if needed. The patient got her work done with the inexpensive treatment and goes back to her regular dentist for a routine check-up. She told her regular dentist about the bonding work done instead of the crowns. At hearing this, he replied that he could have done that for her as well.