Forensics, Health And Ethics - Essay Example

Forensics, Health and Ethics By In the field of health care, when a person is still able to make adecision, that person has all the rights to say yes or no. This is contrary to the world of forensics as it would be the family of the dead person who would make the decision. Others might say it is unethical while some would contradict it. There are ethic guidelines in all fields, one should be fully aware of what is ethical and unethical or what can change a point of view. FORENSICS, HEALTH AND ETHICS When a person departs this world, his physical body is left. There would be instances when some would want to donate a body organ to those who are in need. Others might want to keep their organs intact and get cremated. A person or an organization does not have the right to do what he pleases with a corpse. There would be times that lawsuits are filed in cases where there is a medical power of attorney which is needed before one can actually decide. Living wills contradict a medical power of attorney most of the time. Decisions that are made with regards to ethics are based on the 1997 published Code of Ethics by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Often, when a patient is of old age, families would hire social workers to take care of them. As years pass by, there are some concerns not just by the families of the patient but also of the social worker themselves towards the lax in some aspects of the code. One should not just base their decisions on the relationship they have with the patient especially if the patient still has living relatives. The latter is often the cause of one too many conflicts in the life of social workers. (SocialWorkers.Org, 2014) One conduct that a social worker has failed to do with their patients is to be emotionally unattached no matter what happens. But as for one human being to another, a social worker most of the time sympathizes with their patients as to the ordeals the latter is experiencing on a daily basis. This emotion has been the problem for most social workers regarding living wills and those who were able to acquire a medical power of attorney. As for forensics, often the last will of the patients are carried out regardless of the opinion of the living relatives. There are cases when some family members would object to this and would gather a medical power of attorney just to stop the will to be carried out. (Hess & Weiner, 1999; Congress, 2000) With regards to the field of forensics, authorities have the upper hand towards what the corpse might be put into. An example would be if the corpse is evidence to a crime or it might hold evidence that will put a suspect to jail. However, the code of ethics is pointing to case to case basis towards the approval of such actions and not a generalized one. On the other hand, when it is the suspect or convict that died their families would often just be informed as to what would be done the organs or when the corpse would be released from the morgue. Is this ethical at any point? There would be institutions who would honour legal documents while some would need other supporting documents that families would need to satisfy. Those patients who are mentally challenged have their families to depend upon decision making for their own health and welfare. However, in this case, it is the state or the social workers who look after the decision if it is ethical or not. Sad reality is that there are people who care less about relatives who have disabilities. Either they would be put into institutions and be disregarded to a certain point in time and some would even be considered dead. According to Kalmbach and Lyons (2006), “|In this regard, it is worth noting that forensic evaluations often will involve consideration of aspects of human behaviour that are not normative and may be quite disturbing.” Here is a situation where ethics might work against the event that is happening to a patient. If a person is mentally challenged and is condemned in an institution, who would decide for them but the social workers who are taking care of their needs on a daily basis. But this is a very risky step in the lives of social workers. They have their backs against a wall and a possible lawsuit to be filed by the state or relatives who would want something else other than so-called justice or would have perceived that the decision made and action done is unethical. There are some patients who have just been diagnosed with mental condition during the latter part of their life and might have left a will or have prepared a medical power of attorney for a particular person. An example would be a patient diagnosed with dementia or even Parkinson’s disease. There would be a point in time when they would not be able to tell what is right and what is wrong. Some would not even have an idea of what they are doing. However, they are not in that state during the prime of their lives and might have taken some actions while they are still considered to be thinking the proper way. Continuing on the example of people with dementia, others would contest that it is still not proper to carry out living wills or medical power of attorney. There would be people who would consider that there might be other factors that have influenced the patient from doing what they would actually want to do because of their health condition. Some should have the ethics to check when the documents are made and have a resource person testify if at that certain point, a patient would still be able to acknowledge what they are actually doing. With regards to ethics, there are still an undetermined standards and guidelines concerning people who are mentally challenged. This should be the aspect of health care and ethics, even forensics, which should be further expounded by different associations. It is to protect the rights of people with mental problem yet is still very much alive and has the same human rights as any normal human being. This is still an unfinished business in the world of law and psychiatry. Appelbaum (1997) even stated that “Violations of moral rules, in fact are an inevitable consequence of the complexity of life.” When emotions are put into play, balancing the facts and ethics sometimes become impossible. Emotions would weigh too much that it is the ethics that will overrule the facts which would create conflicts. Some might even go into extremes just to prove their point even if it is not feasible most of the times. People have lost their loved ones and others have lost their careers by not being able to balance facts and ethics properly. However, for some it is the facts that are weighed more and unethically make decisions. The latter occurs not much as the prior scenario. There should be different code of ethics for each branch of health science and healthcare. Answering to the needs of people in different situations would mean different judgments to be considered. References Appelbaum, P. S. (1997). A Theory of Ethics for Forensic Psychiatry. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 25(3), 233-47. Congress, E. P. (Spring 2000). What Social Workers Should Know About Ethics Understanding and Resolving Practice Dilemmas. Advances in Social Work 1(1), 1-26. Hess, A. K. & Weiner, I. B. (1999). The Handbook of Forensic Psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Kalmbach, K. C. & Lyons, P. M. (2006). Ethical Issues in Conducting Forensic Evaluations. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice 2(3), 261-90. National Association of Social Workers. (2014). Retrieved 06 April 2014. http://www.socialworkers.org/. Read More