Annotated Bibliography
Under the Final Paper tab in this classroom, determine which case you will be researching for your Final Paper. Provide a description of the case you will be researching. Then, find at least six scholarly sources that are connected with the ethical dilemma and/or case-related content that you will be using to complete your Final Paper. Provide an annotated bibliography of these six (or more) sources.
Your annotated bibliography must contain the following elements (and possibly more):
• APA-formatted citations
• A description of the article:
• What does it address?
• What were the outcomes or conclusions?
• How does this apply to your case study analysis?
• Does it provide insights into an ethical concept?
• Is it a similar case to the one you are analyzing?
• Does it offer suggestions from best practices in ethical decision making?
Final Paper
The final assignment for this course is a Final Paper. The purpose of the Final Paper is for you to culminate the learning achieved in the course by applying your knowledge in the field of health care ethics and medical law through the analysis of an actual case regarding an ethical dilemma.
Focus of the Final Paper
Review the three scenarios below. Choose one of them and address the questions asked within your selected scenario in the form of a written analysis.
Scenario No. 1: HIPAA Privacy Rule
Case Study: Imagine that you are the privacy officer for a small town hospital. You receive a report that there is a breach of privacy. You are informed that a 15-year-old girl is received at the emergency with an emergency labor. The baby is delivered in the emergency room as there is no time to move the patient to the obstetrics (OB) department. In addition to the emergency delivery, the baby is born with multiple medical problems. Once the mother and baby are moved to obstetrics and neonate, care is given to both.
The OB nurse who took care of the mother and baby completes her shift, and she goes home to her own daughter to have a talk with her. She sits her daughter down and pleads with the girl to tell her if she ever has any problems, especially when it comes to pregnancy. The nurse tells her daughter the story about the young patient who delivered that evening, and she accidentally mentions the patient's name. The patient's name is one of those odd names that immediately triggers the nurse's daughter to relay that she knows the patient. The mother/nurse, realizing that she made a big mistake by mentioning the patient's name, pleads with her daughter not to say anything. Needless to say, word shoots through the four high schools in the town the next day.
The nurse returns to work the following evening, and she contacts you to hand in her badge and keys, stating that she knows she made a mistake by breaching the young patient's privacy and she knows she is going to be fired. In addition to the breach of the obstetrics nurse, you learn that the patient hid her pregnancy from her family, and to make matters worse, her aunt and mother are both nurses at the hospital. You know both of these nurses on a professional and personal level.
Scenario No. 1 HIPAA Privacy Rule Project Assignment:
Research the HIPAA Privacy Rule here:
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). Health Information Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/introduction/index.html
Then, perform additional research regarding the HIPAA Privacy Rule and prepare your Final Paper by analyzing the issues through these questions in regards to the above scenario:
• Analyze the specific requirements needed to perform this investigation.
• Identify whether this incident was an actual breach of privacy according to the HIPAA law.
• Examine the differences and similarities between the hospital's stance and HIPAA as to whether the nurse should be fired from her job.
• Explain why you would fire or not fire the nurse immediately or whether you would put her on administrative leave awaiting the details of the investigation.