Legal and medical ethics is a problem in all hospitals and has become more prevalent in the past five years. These hospitals have legal issues because of ethical situations. Problems in medical ethics are caused by many things such as: religion, culture, and stereotypes. This can also be caused by unprofessionalism. However, teaching and preventing against these situations can help prohibit lawsuits and unnecessary death from occurring. Nurses face all sorts of ethical issues daily, whether it is dealing with pain management, religion, right to die, or patient safety. Nurses must balance what is legal and ethical versus patient and family rights. Many debates have occurred with legal and ethical issues because …show more content…
For example, “a nurse who lives in a rural area and has a frustrating experience with a patient one day. Coming home she merely intends to blow off steam to friends by venting about the situation on her Facebook page”(Oliver). Although she does not divulge any protected health information, one of her Facebook friends recognizes the patient based on the description and the situation. The friend is related to the patient and shares the nurse's comments. The patient is angry with the organization and accuses it of negligence in protecting her health information. Social media in healthcare can be conflicting in itself because it is a good way to get in touch with others to get more information about the condition. However, that also could threaten confidentiality which is under the broad statement of ethics. Another example, would be if someone had a bad nurse that abuses it by using facebook or other sites to tell about a patient or a patient's