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Ethical Dilemma in Healthcare

In: Other Topics

Submitted By calidoc22
Words 1126
Pages 5
Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare
12/10/2010

A fun thing for me to look at is how different industries have changed throughout the years and for me there are two industries in particular that I love and am very familiar with; they are the Healthcare Industry and the Entertainment industry. In this assignment I would like to bring the two together and take a look into how healthcare is portrayed on screen with much more detail today than it was before by explaining ethical situations that were noted in a film that was made in 1996 called “Extreme Measures.” An interesting fact is that this movie was made right before the HIPPA Act of 1996 was enforced, which covers standards in healthcare on patient privacy, confidentiality, and security; so by discussing these situations found in the movie, we can clearly see how ethical dilemmas would arise and how they we’re most likely dealt with through HIPPA.
First thing I noticed in the beginning of the movie was when the camera went through the hallway of the ER; there were patients that were placed out in the open and in the hallway. This would pose a problem since there would be no real sense of privacy if the patient is being asked questions about their illness out in the open. I have been to hospitals like this and immediately the patient starts to be evaluated by a nurse and the patients’ history and current issues are being discussed, and this has been corrected by at least having curtains that enclose the encounter between provider and patient. Another situation was that the Doctors office had patients’ records in it but they were not stored away and locked up. This I would think violates the security of the information that is on it because it is simple to see how when later on in the movie a homeless guy, that is constantly asking the main character for prescriptions, is standing in the Doctors doorway asking

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