UNIVERSITY OF LA SALETTE, INC.

Santiago City, Isabela, Philippines

NCM 108
HEALTH CARE ETHICS-BIOETHICS

Along with the patient’s bill of rights, the council on ethical and judicial affairs
of the American medical association (1993) made statement asserting and
spelling out supplementary and/or complimentary patient’s rights that
physicians and allied health care providers are enjoined to foster.

PATIENT’S RIGHT

1. The patient has the right to receive information from physician and to
discuss the benefits, risks, and cost of appropriate treatment alternatives.
Patients should receive guidance from their physician as to the optimal
course of action. Patients are also entitled to obtain copies or summaries
of their medical records, to have their question answered, to be advised
of potential conflicts of interest that their physician might have, and to
receive independent professional opinions.
2. The patient has the right to make decision regarding the health care
that is recommended by his/her physician. Accordingly, the patient may
accept or refuse any recommended medical treatment.
3. The patient has the right to courtesy, respect, dignity, responsiveness and
timely attention to his/her needs.
4. The patient has the right to confidentiality. The physician should not
reveal confidential communication or information without the consent
of the patient, unless provided by law or by the need to protect the
welfare of the individual or the public interest.
5. The patient has the right to continuity of heath care. The physician has
an obligation to cooperate to the coordination of medically indicated
treatment with other health care providers treating the patient. The
physician may not discontinue treatment of a patient as long as further
treatment is medically indicated, without giving the patient sufficient
opportunity to make alternative arrangements for care.
6. The patient has the basic right to have available adequate health care.
Physicians, along with the rest of society, should continue to work
towards this goal. Fulfillment of this right is dependent on society,
providing resources so that no patient is deprived of necessary care
because of an inability to pay for the care. Physician should continue
their traditional assumptions as part of the responsibility for the medical
care of those who cannot afford essential health care.

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 UNIVERSITY OF LA SALETTE, INC.
Santiago City, Isabela, Philippines

PATIENT’S DUTIES/ RESPONSIBILITIES

The first and foremost requirement from a patient is his/her whole0heated

cooperation and/or active participation in the course of treatment.

Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2002) suggest some of these responsibilities that the
patient should follow:

 To provide honest information about past illness, hospitalizations,

medications, and other matters related to health status;
 To take initiative in requesting additional information or clarification
about his/her health status or treatment when she/he does not fully
understand such information and instruction;
 To ensure that the health care institution has a copy of his/her written
advance directive if he/she has one;
 To inform his/her physician and other health care providers, like the
nurse, if he/she anticipates problems in following the prescribed
treatment;
 To be aware of the hospital’s obligation to be reasonably efficient and
equitable in providing care to other patients and the community;
 To make reasonable accommodations to the needs of the hospital,
other patients, medical staff, and hospital employees;
 To provide necessary information to health care insurance coverage
and/or claims, and to work with the hospital to make payment
agreements orderly and easy; and
 To recognize and discern the impact of his/her lifestyle on his/her
personal health.

HEALTH CARE PROVIDER – CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

Relationship signifies a state or condition that exists between people or groups

that deal with one another. It implies a nexus or connection that binds parties
for a common objective.
There are models or types that describe or direct the range or extent of this
relationship. In his article, “Client and Profession”, edited by Rowan and Zinaich
(2003), Paul Faber presents five (5) different types or models of professional-
client relationship.

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 UNIVERSITY OF LA SALETTE, INC.
Santiago City, Isabela, Philippines
PROFESSIONAL-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
TYPES/MODELS DESCRIPTION
Agency Relationship The Professional does
not make decision, but
the client does.
The professional works
as the agent of the
client.
Paternalism Metaphorically, it is
similar to a father- child
relationship.
The Professional as
caring parent, and the
client as a child.
Contractual An agreement entered
into and executed by
and between the
professional and client,
stipulating the extent of
their respective
responsibility in a joint
effort to meet a need.
Affinity A relation anchored on
trust between
professional and client.
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APPLICATION/
IMPLICATION TO HEALTH
CARE
As applied to health
care, the responsibility
to analyze, consider,
and decide in the best
alternative and
become educated
about the problem and
its corresponding
solution, lies with the
client/patient.
The implication is that
agency relationship
upholds patients’ value
of self- determination or
autonomy in the
promotion of his/her
personal well-being.
The professional
assumes responsibility to
analyze, consider, and
decide on solution to
the problem of the
client, who is only
called to implement
some of the decisions,
or none at all.
The contractual
relationship is doable if
and when the levels of
knowledge of the
problem area between
the professional and
client are more or less
equal; otherwise, the
relationship is not
appropriate and
client’s needs cannot
be met.
The relationship is
appropriate and
applicable when the
 UNIVERSITY OF LA SALETTE, INC.
Santiago City, Isabela, Philippines

needs of the client are

met without
encroaching upon
his/her freedom.
Fiduciary As a noun, fiduciary In health care the
means a person professional are the
holding the character trustees in whose
of a trustee. in a highest standard of
fiduciary relation, the knowledge and
trustee is the expertise are set, and in
professional who held in whom the welfare and
trust for the welfare of health of human life are
the client entrusted.
They are

THE QUALITIES AND/OR CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE HEALTH CARE

PROVIDERS

The concept of quality is a dynamic state associated with people, services,

processes, and environment that meets or exceeds expectations. (Goetsch
and Davis (1997).

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