Discussion, Cases, & Debate

We had a discussion in class not to long ago were we talked about the law and ethics of a psychiatrist having a patient whom expressed thoughts of killing someone. We discussed if the psychiatrist should break that confidentiality and tell someone or not. I think that sometimes people can take thoughts way to far, but on the other hand you never know what someone is capable of doing. If I was the psychiatrist on the case I would try to get as much information out of the situation that I could before coming to any conclusions. If I didnt think that person was really out to hurt anyone I wouldn't want to ruin our progess and trust on what could have been a stupid little comment that he/she didnt mean. I mean who hasnt had a thought like that before... well I dont know I could say something if I was really mad but I wouldnt really mean any harm to anyone. It made me think of my best friend in high school and one of her good friends at the time. The friend had sexual relations with her boyfriend or something and they ended up hating eachother. Well my friend, not a harmful person at all, drew a picture of the girl hanging from a tree and it got in the other girls locker somehow. Well my friend was expelled immediately, I was shocked! I mean i guess you never really know what someone is capable of doing and they had to do what was right for the safety of their students, but I thought it was ridiculous I knew this girl couldnt hurt a fly. I was pretty shocked, I thought suspension and counceling maybe, but being expelled wow. I think this relates to our discussion in class just to the simple fact that you just never know and you have to take precautions to every action.
A case study we had this past week was about a medical assistant sending her patients to get a new order for some lab work that needed to be done after she couldnt read the physicians hand writing. When I first read this case I was kind of shocked that their was even an ethical issue in it at all because little things like this happen all the time, whether it be insurance, getting prescription, or records from another place. I didnt think it was their responsibility for things like that, I mean I questioned it in some instances, but never thought anything could be said about it. I mean I do not know how many times I would have a prescription faxed over to the pharmacy and I would wait an excessive amount of time, especially enough for them to get the prescription ready and by the time I got their they never recieved the fax and I had to call the doctor or go and get a handwritten prescription. This really makes me mad because I am obviously upset, I drove all the way up their for a prescription they didnt recieve, and then they want me to do the work to fix the problem, when it wasnt my fault in the first place! :-) Or how about trying to get records from place to place and they make up excuses on why or how its not their responsibility to get them to fax it! Or the calling to the insurance... this one happens alot, the place I go to says in their paperwork I am covered with my insurance, but them something goes wrong and I am not and I have to make a hundred phone calls to make sure I am covered. I could go on and on with little situations like this, but I guess it's life, you have to do what you have to do. Next time I do think that it is their responsibility I will use my knowledge from class to come up with something smart to say and see if they second guess what they are trying to do.
I wanted to discuss how debate #3 went. I think that we did extremely well I think the conversation kept going back and forth with information and I was proud that neither team were stumpt. It was a little hard to debate with people relating situation to their work (whether it be at a hospital or pharmacy) because it made me feel a little stupid! But thats ok! Overall I had alot of fun with it and thought it was a good experience!