Human Services Ethical Dilemmas

The ethical guidelines for human service professionals mandate that, “Human service professionals respect the integrity and welfare of the client at all times.” (Freeman, S. J. 2000)

The first ethical issue in this situation is connected with privacy and confidentiality. Every human service agency is obligated to protect the client's right to privacy and confidentiality by assuring the integrity, safety, and security of client records (National Organization for Human Services, 2015). Although, now the agency clients are expressing a verbal consent for the housekeeping staff member to use their information and “counsel” them, his lack of qualification may lead to the spreading of this information to third parties. The clients have trusted their private information to the agency, and in case of further information leakage the agency will be fully responsible for the harm caused by it.

Chapter 3 explains the importance of ethical competence specific to the human services field. As a professional it is important to know and understand an organizations code of ethics, as it will be a reference tool in how to handle certain situations you are faced with. Human service professionals enter into the profession with a personal set of values, goals and ethical conduct but, must always remember that their actions should always reflect the values and ethics of the company they are now a part of (site). In the event of an ethical issue a professional should always refer the ethical standards to determine what action should be taken (site). Ethics are also in place to facilitate legal implications that stem from malpractice lawsuits.

In health and social care setting, ethical principles can occur and this will be a difficulty because this would mean it doesn’t promote justice for the service users which can lead to be discriminated against and cause depression. When in health and social care setting, service providers need to make sure that no service user is discriminate and that is doesn’t occur in the environment. If that doesn’t happen, then there could be negative reports that service users could make that could lead for that service provision to be closed down.

In health and social care sector, health care professionals take into account four key ethical principles when providing service to the service users. The key ethical principles are justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence. In health and social care settings people must be treated fairly without being judgemental regardless of who they are or where they come from. Health care professionals must allow their service users choose the type of services or treatment they want and the professional should support them in getting quality care that will benefit their service users. Also, health care professional must not

Human services is a profession developed in response to the direction of human needs and human problems in the 1960's (Taylor,2015) Characterized by an appreciation of human beings in all of their diversity, human services offers assistance to its clients within the context of their communities and environments (Taylor,2015) The educator of Human service professional, guide to promote and motivate the distinctive values and characteristics of human services. Therefore, human service professionals sustain integrity and ethics of the job, encourage clients, communities, and magnify their own professional development. Some of the basic values of the human services profession include respecting the dignity and happiness of clients; promoting self-determination; respecting cultural differences; advocating for social equality; and to act with integrity, honor, kindness and fairness. Human service professionals utilize these standards in ethical and professional decision making (O’Brien,2010) Conflicts can occur from the code and laws, policies in the work place, cultural practices, credentialing boards, and personal beliefs (O’Brien,2010) A Human service professional should display their ethical-decision making during situations to assure they’re making careful choices.

2.Demonstrate a working knowledge of the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals and the consequences of non-compliance.

Ethics are statements written that mirrors the principles of society it reflects society’s views of what is right or humanitarian. However, morals are not written and are codes setting out what is thought to be good enough or offensive behaviour.

Human service professional’s main focus is to successfully deliver and to meet human needs. As a professional for human services, an individual must have knowledge and commitment to delivering the highest quality level of services to their client or client’s issues to improve their client’s quality of living. Human services have several of roles depending on their professions. Some roles may include learning to build relationships with clients, finding the right resources for clients, additional training and technology skills. In addition to several of roles, as a human service professional, it is very important to practice the ethical responsibilities that come within human services when dealing with clients on daily basis.

There is a pressing need for a high level of worker/client boundary identification when working within a client population, however realizing a conflict of interest scenario is vitally important when facing a dual relationship with a client. There are so many issues that are faced by a human service professional, explaining all of them may be difficult. In this field there are issues such as burnout, secondary trauma, compassion satisfaction, dual relationships, and boundary issues. (Reamer, F. (2012). As human services professional or social workers there is a code of ethics. In statement 6 of the code of ethics, it states human services experts must be mindful that in their associations with customers/clients power and status are

Nutritional well-being plays an essential role in the overall health, independence, and quality of life of older persons as well as disabled persons. This nation has a responsibility to at risk populations such as the elderly. Today, there are close to 6 million seniors in the United States facing the threat of hunger. Some of these citizens were raised during the Great Depression, they went on to protect our independence in the Second World War and won the cold war. America's older citizens have been called the greatest generation by many. It is morally wrong that the citizens that built this country should suffer starvation in this land of plenty, which they helped to form. Our country

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.

In the human services field, personal ethical belief systems combined with professional ethics work in partnership to guide human service professionals in unraveling ethical dilemmas. An increasing number of professionals and clients seek out to define the fundamental policies of the human services field. Humans develop an integration of values, standards, and beliefs from birth throughout life. The values, standards, and beliefs developed through life assist in characterizing personal ethical belief systems. Our personal ethical belief system unites with our professional ethics to shape the ethical decision-making process. A code of ethics is essential

Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).

Traditionally, social worker are expected to not impose their own values on their clients, and suspended judgment about client behaviors, even when their own values or society values demand a judgement (Dolgroff, Harrington & Loewenberg, 2012). This can often pose difficult ethical decisions for social workers and clients, as personal value systems are inevitable. Social worker value gap, value neutrality and value imposition are important to consider when analyzing any ethical situation with our clients. Consideration needs to be given to both the social worker and the client as they interact together, although it is the social worker’s role to not impose their own values onto the client. The social worker must uphold the value of self