Ethical Decision
Ethical Dilemma and Decision Making
In the selected scenario, a therapy patient is beginning to develop a trusting relationship with his therapist after spending a fir amount of time dealing with his depression. Under-employed and under-insured, it is clear that the patient still needs help but it is less clear that he has the necessary resources to continue paying for his therapy. Insurance payments could be guaranteed by embellishing his mental condition slightly, thus allowing the therapist to receive payment and providing the care needed, but is this proper? This paper will apply the fourteen steps in the ethical decision making process to derive an answer.
The basic situation of the ethical dilemma is whether or not it is ethically proper to report a more serious mental condition to the patient's insurance company in order to keep receiving payment for services he clearly needs. In other words, is it alright to lie in order to get help for someone; do the ends justify the mean?
Step 2: The effects of a decision in this case will be far more far-reaching than might initially be thought. In addition to affecting the patient, the therapist, and the insurance company, trends in the over-reporting of certain mental conditions simply for insurance purposes could lead to much larger if subtle problems for the insurance and mental health industries and society as a whole. On the other hand, consistently failing to provide necessary care due to lack of payment abilities will also have far-reaching consequences for all parties concerned.
Step 3: There are multiple clients in this scenario, which is part of the reason the ethical dilemma is so complex. The patient is clearly the primary client, however the insurance company is in some ways a client of the therapists as well -- they have a contract (explicit or implicit) in which the therapist is held to the honest performance of his duties in regards to making insurance claims/billing.
Step 4: Knowledge in this area likewise comes in several spheres, and thus the levels of expertise and the amounts of missing knowledge that impact the various areas of this dilemma vary considerably. It is without a doubt that continuing to receive treatment...
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