Healthcare Ethics and Patient Rights

HPCSA Ethical Guidelines

• The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) publishes ethical guidelines for good practice in the health care professions.
• These guidelines cover numerous topics, including general ethical guidelines for health care professions, ethical and professional rules, the National Patients' Rights Charter, seeking patients' informed consent, confidentiality, management of patients with HIV infection or AIDS, withholding and withdrawing treatment, reproductive health, patient records, telemedicine and health care waste management, ethical guidelines for health researchers, biotechnology research, social media, and palliative care.
• Booklet numbers and page numbers are listed for each booklet.

General Ethical Guidelines for Health Care Professionals

• Practice as a health care professional is based on a relationship of trust.
• "Profession" means dedication, promise, or commitment publicly made.
• Requires a life-long commitment to sound professional ethical practices and overriding dedication to the interests of one's fellow human beings and society.
• The practice of health care professions is a moral enterprise.
• Complaints of professional misconduct will be evaluated against the standards of conduct.
• "Health care practitioner" refers to persons registered with the HPCSA.

How to resolve ethical dilemmas

• Ethical reasoning proceeds in four steps:
• Formulate the problem: Determine if the issue is ethical and find a better understanding of it.
• Gather information relevant to the situation (clinical, personal, and social data, and professional opinions).
• Consider options: Explore diverse solutions and principles applied.
• Make a moral assessment: Evaluate each option concerning possible outcomes and weigh the values involved in each option (duties, rights, and patient's views in particular circumstances).

Duties to Patients

• Health care practitioners should always regard the best interests or well-being of their patients as their primary professional duty.
• Honour the trust of their patients.
• Be mindful of power imbalances and avoid abuse.
• Be accessible to patients on duty and make alternative arrangements when not on duty.
• Avoid letting personal beliefs prejudice the patient's care.

Informed Consent

• Health care practitioners should always provide patients with the necessary information about their condition, treatment, and prognosis in a way they understand.
• Refrain from withholding information from patients that is in their best interest.
• Apply the principle of informed consent as an ongoing process.
• Allow patients access to their medical records.
• Practitioners must ensure patients' right to privacy.
• Health care practitioners are responsible for ensuring that information concerning their care is not disclosed without the patients' consent unless it's disclosed by a court order
• Avoid potentially harming patients.

Duties to Colleagues and Other Health Care Practitioners

• Act in the best interests of patients when making referrals.
• Treat referred patients in the same manner as their own patients.
• Do not serve a patient in more than one capacity for the same or related business agreement.

Confidentiality

• Recognise the right of patients to expect confidential information will not be disclosed unless:
• made in accordance with patient's consent;
• made in accordance with a court order;
• required by law; or
• in the patient's best interest.
• Not breach confidentiality without sound reasoning and without consent.

Duties to Society

• Deal responsibly with scarce health care resources.
• Avoid unnecessary or wasteful practices in providing care that disadvantage individuals or institutions.
• Include ethical considerations in the development of policies.
• Report professional misconduct or breaches of patient rights.
• Properly dispose of potentially damaging waste.

Duties to the Health Care Profession

• Report violations of ethical guidelines.
• Protect those who report misconduct from retaliation.

Duties To The Environment

• Ensure that the research or activity does not harm the environment.

Duties to Animals

• Research involving animals should respect animal welfare
• Use alternative methods if scientifically plausible.

This quiz explores the ethical responsibilities of healthcare practitioners, including informed consent, patient autonomy, and the implications of financial interests in referrals. It assesses understanding of the legal and ethical frameworks guiding practitioner-patient relationships and the importance of transparent communication.