Duty to Warn and Protect Ethical/Legal Issues

The situation I have chosen assumes a subject of twenty years old who has attempted to commit suicide because his parents passed away in an accident recently. The subject has been under severe depression due to a string of traumatic experiences in his life. He feels despondent and is unaware of what to do. He feels that he is living without a purpose in this life and assumes himself as being unwanted and unaware. He has just lost the two people who according to him were the only two people who actually loved him and cared for him. He tried to kill himself recently by having sleeping pills. After being rushed to the hospital and having been saved, he is now sitting in front of me as my client waiting to be counseled.

Legal, ethical, and clinical issues of being a counselor

No maleficence will be the main ethical principle guiding my practice. I will do no harm. I will try to remove all sources that may be a source of potential harm for the client. I will try my best to protect the client from any possible harm in the future (White, 2003).

Confidentiality is binding for all counselors and so as by me. I will make sure that any information that the client discloses during the therapy sections remains between the client and me. There will however be a disclaimer here in the sense that when disclosure of information is needed to protect the client from any harm in the future.

There will be respect for the autonomy of the client. The client will be completely free to make all of his health decisions. My responsibility will be to keep the client informed of the outcomes of each of the option he or she has. Choosing a path will be the client's own discretion....

My job will be to help him make a well informed decision.
I will look to provide benefits in the patients best interests. These benefits may be in the form of the psychological support the client requires at this sensitive juncture in his life. It may also be in the form of financial assistance that the subject may need .This may be due to the fact that his parents have just recently passed away and he may have no one to take good care of him.

I will exercise justice and make sure the client is treated fairly indeed and has access to all the options he has the right to without being judgmental or exercising any discriminatory practices. I will treat the client fairly and will show respect towards anything he has to say irrespective of how much I may disagree with him.

The relationship between doctor-patient will be based on trust, I will do everything I can to maintain this trust. Also it will be made sure by me that I work towards caring for the patient in the best way possible.

The rights of the client will be respected. One would need to be cognizant of their vulnerable state and this is the best way for serving them respect (Schoener, 2009).

Fidelity demands that a counselor needs to keep his views on suicide from being old and outdated (Schwartz & Rogers, 2004). I will be having up-to-date knowledge on the subject by keep in touch with the best and latest measures to deal and take care of the client.

Questions to the Client:

My first and foremost question to the client will be regarding how he feels now and if I can say anything to make him feel better. Then I will try to determine if the client has plans to be suicidal again. If the client does have a…