The Ethical Implications of Disclosure and Nondisclosure

The Ethical Implications of Disclosure and Nondisclosure

The Ethics and Legalities of Medication Error Disclosure

An elementary mistake in medication may have life-altering upshots, and traversing the exquisite balance between ethics and legalities in revealing medication errors can be an intimidating task for healthcare professionals. Nurses, like any other individual, are human and vulnerable to making an error. In day-to-day ventures, nurses can experience errors in their line of work. An advanced nurse qualified to prescribe drugs can make a prescription error. The disclosure of medication errors is essential in healthcare ethics and legalities. Medication errors are familiar and can lead to adverse patient results such as injury and death (Rodziewicz et al., 2018). Healthcare professionals must comprehend their ethical and legal obligations concerning medication error disclosure. Healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to divulge errors to patients and their families as a matter of honesty and respect for patient autonomy. Healthcare professionals may be legitimately needed to divulge medication errors in specific circumstances, like when the error led to harm to the patient or when state or federal law mandates disclosure. Lack of revealing medication errors can lead to legal and professional upshots for healthcare professionals, involving disciplinary action, malpractice lawsuits, and losing licensure (Robertson & Long, 2018). Healthcare professionals should balance their ethical obligations to patients with their legal obligations to their employers and managerial bodies during the disclosure of medication errors. This essay aims to explain the ethical and legal implications of disclosure and nondisclosure, explore a case study, describe what to do as an advanced practice nurse, and look at the process of writing prescriptions and the strategies for reducing medication errors.