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Self-Determination: An Ethical Dilemma

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As a social worker, my duty is to protect Ms. T. Since she shared information with me that she possesses medications and will try and take her life, my duty is to warn someone about it. The “duty of care” states that my legal obligation is to report that Ms. T is making claims of wanting to harm herself. The ethical principles that I will use while dealing with the client are service, integrity, and competence. With service, my primary goal is to help Ms. T while addressing the problem, which is her wanting to commit suicide. I have to apply integrity because although Ms. T told me to not interfere with her plans, I have to act in a trustworthy, honest manner and report her. Finally, I have to be competent by using my skills and knowledge to help Ms. T. The Code of Ethics that apply to this case are …show more content…
T can choose to do what she thinks is best. However, since she is posing a serious risk to herself by wanting to inflict harm to herself, I have to intervene and limit her right to self-determination. By being competent, I must provide services to Ms. T with the knowledge and skills I obtained. If I cannot handle it or feel that I need help with this situation, I must consult someone or receive supervision while helping Ms. T. An ethical dilemma that will occur is me keeping the confidential information that Ms. T disclosed with me about her wanting to kill herself. Since she is putting herself at risk, I have to report the information she shared with me in order to prevent her from harming herself. Regarding the ethics hierarchy, there would be an ethical dilemma regarding the protection of Ms. T’s life, quality of life, privacy and confidentiality, as well as truthfulness and full disclosure. As a social worker, I would have to break the pact I made to keep Ms. T’s information private and confidential in order to prevent her from harming herself. Additionally, I will report this information to someone so she can receive the help she

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