Read chapter 11 in Butts & Rich (2020).
After reading the chapter, find the following article
Lea, D.H. (2008). Genetic and genomic healthcare: Ethical issues of importance to nurses. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 13(1), p. 6.
Consider the following scenario:
You are a nurse in a family practice clinic. Mrs. Joan Smith is a 43-year-old patient that has received her primary care at the clinic for over twenty years. Additionally, Mrs. Smith’s sister and mother are patients at the clinic. Recently, Joan underwent genetic testing that was positive for heredity breast/ovarian cancer. A plan is developed to increase surveillance for these cancers in an effort to ensure early detection. As her relationship with her sister is strained, Joan does not wish to share this information with her family members. Her sister has a one in two chance of carrying the same gene mutation and carries the same significant risk of developing cancer (Lea, 2008).
In the United States, you do not have the legal authority to reveal this information to family members without permission from the patient. However, this information could be potentially life-saving for the sister. Interestingly, in the United Kingdom, this information can be released to family in certain situations. In this paper, you will look beyond the legal duties that we currently must abide. In this paper, examine what you think is ethical and what the legal repercussions to your choices are.
1. Post a 3-5 paragraph original posting in the designated discussion board related to the ethics involved in fair use of genetic information and patient confidentiality while considering the following questions:
As the nurse, do you have an ethical duty (not legal duty) to protect Mrs. Smith’s privacy at all costs? In all cases?
OR
Do you have an ethical duty to act in the best interest of the uninformed sister? Discuss the dilemma and its implications in your posting.
Decide which question you support and provide scholarly content to support your choice in your discussion. Also, consider the bullet points below:
What ethical principle or theory would support your choice?
Do you think that HIPAA regulations need to be amended to address the use of genetic information? Why?
Scholarly Writing (APA format, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, 3-5 paragraphs in length). Do not post as a Word attachment. As this is a discussion board posting, a title page, headers, page numbers are not required. In relation to APA, just be sure to provide citations in your writing and include your references at the end of the writing.
