Ethical And Legal Aspects Of Prescribing

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Prescribing

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Prescribing

Introduction

Serving humanity is a noble profession; the people working in this field are bound to care for people. They try to save the lives of the people in their full capacity and knowledge and take their best care. This profession requires utmost dedication and trust. Moreover, the professionals working in this field need to take special care so that nothing wrong happens with their client or patient. Although every professional from the field of healthcare needs to take special heed in order to avoid any mishappening, sometimes the misfortune cannot be avoided. After all, the people working in the area of healthcare and safety are also humans and they can also make mistakes.

Although every profession requires ethical values and moral attitudes some of them require much more of it, especially the medical field (Darcy, Louie, & Roberts, 2016). The people who come under the umbrella of medical professions are doctors, nurses, ward boys, pharmacists and even the cleaners or sweepers that work in the medical facility. Usually the doctors and nurses are on the front line. Pharmacists and chemists also cover this field as they provide the medicines for the patients. Even the slightest mistake in the procedure or the prescription can result in drastic results and can take even take the life of the patient.

One such incident happened to me as I am a practicing nurse at a local medical facility. Once a 5-year-old boy came to me with a medical condition. Usually I am very careful with my practice and carry on each and every procedure with extreme care but I don’t know what got into my head that day and I made a mistake with the prescription. As I told that sometimes even the smallest mistake in the field of area of healthcare and safety can result in grave consequences, the same thing happened with me. I accidentally wrote the wrong prescription for him. He came in the facility with a minor medical issue and I had to write a prescription according to his age and I accidentally wrote a dose for an adult. I had to make some serious decisions after that to rectify the mistake I had made, keeping in mind the ethical and legal implications of the scenario.

Discussion

Ethical and Legal Implications of the Current Scenario

As it has already been discussed that some professionals are more under the burden of ethical and legal implications than others (Korngiebel, Thummel, & Burke, 2017). In the current situation, there are also some ethical and legal implications that I had to follow. These ethical implications are similar across all the medical profession and need to be followed by all professionals. They have been listed below.

Respect for the individual (autonomy and self-determination)

Beneficence (providing the most excellent level of care)

Non-maleficence (not harming the person intentionally)

Justice (truthfulness, fairness, equitability)

Veracity (always sticking with the truth)

Fidelity (remaining faithful to one’s own commitment)

Stakeholders Involved In the Current Scenario

Keeping in mind the current scenario, there are many stakeholders in this case. The first and foremost stakeholders that are clearly visible and directly involved are the patient, the doctors who checked the patient, the nurses who prescribed the medicine, and the family of the patient. On the second line, there come the pharmacists or the chemists who provide the patient with the medicine and did not check the dosage that it is meant for adults not children of this age.

Strategies to Address Disclosure and Non-Disclosure in the Current Scenario

The strategies of closure and non-disclosure strictly apply in this scenario. The professionals in the medical field have to sign a bond of confidentiality before joining the profession (Coxon, & Rees, 2015). This bond strictly bounds them to stick with the confidentiality of the patient and not to leak any medical secrets of the person they are treating.

Laws Related To the Scenario

The legal implications related to the medical errors in case of a wrong prescription state that:

If a doctor or nurse prescribes a wrong medicine or dosage to the patient, he or she can be imprisoned.

If a doctor or nurse prescribes a wrong medicine or dosage to the patient, and it results in the death of the patient, the medical practitioner may be charged for murder.

Strategies to Guide the Decision Making Process in the Current Scenario

In my opinion, the best option in this scenario is to confess the mistake and declare that a mistake has occurred from my side. This mistake is not that big or grave as there was no life lost. So it can be hoped that the court does not punish this issue so severely. In my opinion, the best option or strategy to tackle this issue is to take my immediate supervisor or doctor in confidence. He or she can give the best advice in this scenario.

Process of Writing Prescriptions in Order To Minimize the Medication Error

There are a number of ways in which the medical errors can be reduced especially while writing the prescription. The best and safest strategy to do so is to double and even triple check every procedure that is being carried on (Bari, Khan, & Rathore, 2016). In addition to this, the practicing doctor or nurse should make any other fellow read the prescription as well so that they can get a confirmation.

References

Bari, A., Khan, R. A., & Rathore, A. W. (2016). Medical errors; causes, consequences, emotional response and resulting behavioral change. Pakistan journal of medical sciences, 32(3), 523.

Coxon, J., & Rees, J. (2015). Avoiding medical errors in general practice. Trends in Urology & Men's Health, 6(4), 13-17.

Darcy, A. M., Louie, A. K., & Roberts, L. W. (2016). Machine learning and the profession of medicine. Jama, 315(6), 551-552.

Korngiebel, D. M., Thummel, K. E., & Burke, W. (2017). Implementing precision medicine: the ethical challenges. Trends in pharmacological sciences, 38(1), 8-14.