Medical Negligence And Malpractice Law

Protection of patients / clients’ rights under the care situation is an area of great importance in the work of care. All health professionals are obliged to patients / clients duty of care. Health care professionals are legally bound to ensure that they abide by and comply with legislation that protects the rights and interests of their patients / clients under their care, related to matters of confidentiality. [1] Care profession based on the principle that its members can be relied upon to conduct its business in a manner that will reflect credit on them and bring honour to their profession; this principle is universally understood in the care profession. Therefore, the health profession should be strict adherence to rules and guidelines to its members. To this end, the Code of Professional Conduct, approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002a) issued to all members of qualified nursing and midwifery. [2] 

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It is important to note that the protection of clients’ rights in situations of care is an area of great importance in the work of nursing, all health professionals are obliged to patients / clients duty of care and are under a legal obligation to ensure compliance with laws protecting the rights and interests of their patients / client issues related to confidential information. In addition, users of care have become more aware of their rights for many years, and their expectations of services are now much higher than previously. Patients / clients rights and interests are now protected by medical services associated rights such as the Data Protection Act 1984, government statutes such as the Patients’ Charter, and the NMC code of practice 2002. Thus, the code was developed as a basis for professional work, she used to deal with failure, shape and influence the role of nurses, and learn from the mistakes of the past, which is vital to the success of any code of conduct. [4] 

Nurses are accountable to themselves, although the Code of Conduct may conflict with their own positions, often in the nursing professions in order to comply with the standards of care (Dimond, 2002). The Code of Conduct should be implemented by health professionals to recognize and realize that they are responsible for their practice, both for themselves and the public. This is necessary due to the fact that leaving the profession is more demanding than ever. Today, users of care have become more aware of their rights for many years and their expectations from the standard of care to which they are entitled are now much higher.

Given the statement “You must treat information about patients and clients as confidential and use it only for the purposes for which it was given, the meaning of privacy in the care, the importance of confidentiality, which must remain confidential and the disclosure of confidential information to be examined, with order to better understand this complex and sometimes confusing subject. [5] 

The meaning of confidentiality

Confidentiality is one of the values of good medical practice, which relate to the protection of private information about the patient / client, which is obtained in the period of professional activities. [6] With respect to care, confidentiality, plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining the confidence that an effective nurse – patient / client relationships depend. Health professionals who are able to build good relationships with their patients / clients may have a positive therapeutic effect in terms of speed of recovery after the operation. Confidentiality refers to the protection of personal and private information about a patient or client situations and / or conditions. In kindergarten, the term privacy is used to designate the rights of patients / clients that can access their personal information, as well as limiting access to confidential information to people who are accepted need to know who is part of the care team.

A typical team care on medical or surgical ward will be composed of doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, dietitians, pharmacists, and related care team are the secretaries, receptionists and porters (Downie & Calman, 1994) Customers generally consenting to the information available on this limited group of medical professionals.

As a nurse, midwife or health visitor, you must protect confidential information, Section 5 NMC guidelines, 2002 (see Annex .1). Nurse / patient / client relationship special. Nurses are in a relatively strong position in relation to service users, as their special skills, knowledge and clinical privileged access that they have to information about the client’s social situation and health status. [7] 

Patients / clients can also expect that health professionals will comply with restrictions on their place on the disclosure of confidential information outside the command, and for any reason not related to their care. The nurses did not violate confidentiality in situations where clients have a right to privacy, and their comments and behavior will not cause injury to others and break the law. [8] 

As a student nurse, who is likely to be a temporary visitor care settings, while on placement and collection of information for the purpose. Observed or heard about things patients / clients and even employees, must remain confidential. Confidentiality is a key value of care and is an important part of nurses base value (Kenworthy et al, 2003).

The importance of confidentiality

Confidentiality is given high value, health care, it is one of the cornerstones on which they build their relationships with patients / customers. For health care workers to do their jobs well, they must range of information about their patients and clients, it may be in the range of facts about someone, physical well-being and financial situation in a more personal details about their feelings and attitudes. [9] 

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People who use care services are often vulnerable and concerned about situations in which they are located. Providing such information may be embarrassing and disturbing. Despite this, patients / clients should be able to establish appropriate relationships and be able to communicate effectively with medical and social workers, patients / clients need to feel they can talk openly about their health and social care practices. This means trusting them to keep confidential any information received. If patients / clients do not believe in the ability to care practitioner “to save your personal information confidential, they will never trust them enough to create an effective therapeutic relationship. [10] 

While the need for establishing trust concerns is one of the important reasons of confidentiality, there are other practical reasons for ensuring that confidential information about patients / clients are not disclosed inappropriately. Safety of patients / clients’ property, information about their finances and homes, and their personal safety are also issues of confidentiality. Disclosure of even simple details to the man, for example, the fact that the patient / client is in the hospital, lives alone or has a special status, may open the possibility of human exploitation, theft, robbery and discrimination. [11]