The need to exert influence to safeguard the health of populations and, to avoid abuses of such power are at the heart of public health ethics (Thomas, Sage, Dillenberg & Guillorv, 2002). More than any other industry, issues that deal with patients and their welfare are of utmost importance in the healthcare industry. This is because, people in this industry deal with such situations and circumstances, every day, which have a direct bearing on another person’s life. It is mandatory for all healthcare organizations to implement ethics committee, a written code of ethics, and policies or procedures that govern patients’ rights and conducts. These implementation efforts will give interested partiy, whether the patients, family members, the organization itself, caregivers or the community, are properly and balanced-out approach to patient care. Healthcare ethics can also refer to set of moral values and principles to be used for decision-making, in the field of medicine. Ethical issues in the health sector should be dealt with lots of care and concern. Having a written, well-defined code of ethics, and training the healthcare professionals to adopt patient welfare, as their primary responsibility while making decisions, can help in resolving ethical issues that arise in the healthcare industry. One of the most important ethical issues in the medical field is the exercise of confidentiality – the protection of patient information, which is both private and personal. In the previous few decades, patient medical records were accessible to anybody and everybody; this however is no longer the situation.
Thomas, J. C., Sage, M., Dillenberg, J., & Guillory, V. J. (2002). A code of ethics for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 92(7), 1057-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/215106010?accountid=14872
