Running Head: ETHICAL HEALTHCARE

Ethical Healthcare Issues Paper

Wanda Douglas

Health Law and Ethics/HCS 545

October 17, 2011
Nancy Moody

Ethical Healthcare Issues Paper

In today’s health care industry providing quality patient care and avoiding harm are the foundations of ethical practices. However, many health care professionals are not meeting the guidelines or expectations of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) or obeying the organizations code of ethics policies, especially with the use of electronic medical records (EMR). Many patients fear that their personal health information (PHI) will be disclosed by hackers or unauthorized users. According to Carel (2010) “ethical concerns shroud the
EMR systems contain an enormous amount of raw data, which can innovate public health and biomedical research. This research will not only do good to help the health of individual patients, but also to the health of society (Mercuri, 2010). As a result, as new EMR systems are designed, patients should be given the ability to release information from their EMRs to researchers and scientists.
Nonmaleficence
Not only does beneficence have an effect with ethics concerning EMR systems, but also nonmaleficence. According to Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary “The principle of not doing something that causes harm. Hippocrates felt this was the underpinning of all medical practice. He advised his students, primum non nocere (“first, do no harm”)” ("Nonmaleficence," 2010). Nonmaleficence has an effect with ethics concerning EMR systems because it is the employee’s responsibilities to report any negligence or fraud of patient medical records. However, if an employee doesn’t report negligence or fraud it will cause harm to the organization and to the patient. Reporting negligence will make the organization aware of the problem and help them find a solution. Employees can help prevent negligence or fraud notifying management when a problem is discovered. Employees can also help prevent negligence or fraud by making sure that their system access information is secure. In