Duty to Warn and Protect Ethical/Legal Issues

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 plan to do so, I'll try to drag out of him the time and way he plans to carry out the attempt. It will be my responsibility to figure out if the client is any imminent harm or not. I will try to gain his trust so as to ease him into telling me everything I need for helping him. If I find out that the client does plan to commit suicide again I will try to talk to him explain to him why that may not be a very good idea. I will try to work with him and make him come up with ways he can make himself useful. I will look into his history and try to find out some talent or passion the client had and then accordingly introduce this as a stimulus in the client's life to indicate that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I will talk about his parents' death and help him to have a cathartic session to help him vent out his pent up pain and anger. I will try to get my hands on some of his friends and casually tell them to be there for him and help him recover through the loss by listening to him and his sorrows. This will help him know that there are people who care for him and that the person is not alone. Also I will ask him to change his surroundings for a while and not live alone. Preferably he could go and stay over with a friend. In short I will tell him that he is young and there is more to life and good things are bound to happen. He just needs to be positive and work for them.

What will be my course of action?