The citizen’s well-being plays an essential role in the welfare and stability of the country. The US government came up with the HIPPA Act to ensure the provision of health care to citizens. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was enacted to ensure the privacy and security of health information. The privacy rules protect certain identifiable health information by creating national standards, and the security rule establishes national standards to protect health information. It also addresses the security concerns from technical and non-technical sources to secure the individuals. The privacy rules ensure that health-related information is disclosed only to the specific and authorized person. It is crucial for the person’s safety because it is protected but available when needed for medical use.
The privacy rules protect the patients’ rights regarding their health records. It gives the patients the right to assess and obtain their medical reports. They can request information and corrections if they find any discrepancies. It allows people to plan and manage their health and personal information. The security rule safeguards health information’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Privacy and security regarding health information are essential to promote communication between patients and physicians, ensuring the quality of care, enhancing autonomy, and preventing harm to patients. It also protects patients from embarrassment and discrimination. It is efficient because it can provide health reports to all the involved groups with the patient’s consent. The protection of privacy has the social life of the patients. The medical documents have information about certain conditions and information regarding the person’s financial, mental, physical, and social behavior. The disclosure of such information can lead to serious consequences, embarrassment, or even ostracization. Therefore, the health and medical information of the patients is kept private and secure to ensure their well-being. Sometimes, people might try to steal financial or personal information to forge documents and gain monetary benefits. Hence, the government emphasizes the privacy and security of the patients.
Ethics in Health Care
Healthcare professionals and providers are responsible for taking care of the patient and their safety. The ethical responsibility and the oath require the health care professionals to perform their duties with care and dutifully. The patients are vulnerable and seek help, but it is impossible for a person to disclose their problems to a careless person. Therefore, doctors and healthcare professionals must be trustworthy so that people can trust, reveal, and share their concerns without fear. Hence, it is essential that some code of ethics be enacted for healthcare professionals. The healthcare profession is based on trust and ethics because sometimes people have to trust the ethics of the professionals in their lives.
Moreover, the professionals are powerful, so the ethics of no harm help the patients go to the healthcare professionals without hesitation. Medical ethics is crucial for ensuring well-being, social responsibility, safety of the patients, the welfare of the patients, and human rights. It also provides that all the professionals comply with the laws and regulations of the hospital. Consequently, the professionals and all the involved individuals follow the code of conduct to provide better health care to the patients.
Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate the technology to provide up-to-date and accurate health care systems. The code of ethics of e-health must include the existing professional and personal code of conduct focusing on responsibility, trust, and no harm principles but integrate technology and telecommunication. The computer and internet-based healthcare information and services that people can access when needed. Moreover, securing the patients’ data and compiling all their medical records is essential to make them available to all the consultants. However, the online safety and privacy system must be optimized to meet the safety needs of many people who can try to steal online information. Therefore, hospitals and healthcare providers must have rigorous ways of safeguarding the data with updated and secure software.
