The most immediate of the relevant issues raised by the case “SHHH, Don’t Tell!”, is the number of injuries suffered by the patient Lowell Baxter. Baxter actually incurred multiple injuries in this case study, each of which exerted considerable sway over his ability to live a healthy, productive life. The first was an injury which occurred at work. This injury resulted in Baxter’s inability to work at what was termed a “physically demanding job” (Wolfe et al, 2000). The second injury occurred while the patient was coaching a girls’ soccer game. Although the way the injury on his job happened is not described in the case study, this latter injury occurred when he fell on wet grass. These injuries are noteworthy because they are indicative of the efficacy of the treatment Baxter received once they happened. Another relevant issue raised by this case is the amount of disclosure of the health care practitioners who are treating Baxter. There are two such practitioners, his doctor Felton Cranz and his physical therapist Ms. Nye. Ms. Nye has full disclosure of both of Baxter’s injuries. She knows the extent of the damage of each as well as how each one took place. Cranz, however, has limited disclosure about the occurrence of Baxter’s injuries. Cranz knows the details about Baxter’s first injury, but is unaware that he even had a second injury. Significantly, Cranz is aware of the extent of the damage of the former injury while he is ignorant of the damage incurred from Baxter’s...

After Baxter incurred the second injury, his attitude substantially changed. Whereas before he was amiable and amenable to the advice of his healthcare practitioners, he became recalcitrant and grumpy instead. He refuses to tell his doctor about his second injury. Moreover, his attitude with Ms. Nye is preventing him from recovering as well as he could. He seems to dislike her advice as a physical therapist, and would prefer to spend his time advising her instead.
An explanation of why those issues raise ethical concerns

There are multiple reasons why the aforementioned issues cause ethical concerns to arise. The number of issues is of utmost importance because the second injury undoes much of the work that the practitioners did to account for the first. Mr. Baxter had practically recovered from the first injury when he fell while coaching his daughter’s soccer team. In doing so he began the recovery process all over again. This time, however, that process is worse because his wounds are worse. Furthermore, the main ethical concern with this issue is that one cannot properly treat a wound if there is a subsequent injury which is causing it. Baxter has made it so that the treatment for his initial wound on his back is being used to address a second injury which is affecting his leg. Ethically, there is a conflict in the treatment he is receiving because of the multiple injuries.…