Patient care is a practice that has evolved a lot over the last few decades. Patient care has evolved to encompass medical practitioners, insurance companies, and family members. The following case is an incident that involves a bedridden patient and her family members. In this scenario, the family members are charging the patient money for food and laundry services. Several ethical and legal implications come into play in this scenario. This paper explores some of the ethical and legal aspects that apply to this situation.
When sick people depend on family members for assistance, they always risk being exploited. One of the most common forms of exploitation when it comes to patient care is financial exploitation. However, the fact that in this case, the family members are taking money from a bed-ridden patient does not necessarily translate to financial exploitation. First, ‘taking’ money from a bed-ridden patient is unethical.
However, ‘charging’ money to a bed-ridden patient is ethically and morally acceptable. In the latter scenario, the family members would wait for the patient to get back on her feet before requiring her to pay for their care. Several organizations that deal with patient care ethics agree that it is okay to charge a fair market rate for amenities that are used by a patient during homecare. Consequently, the real issue would be if the family members are over-charging for their services.
Home caregivers are covered by the same ethics that cover nurses and other medical practitioners. Therefore, if the family members sign up for the role of caregivers, they should maintain a high level of ethics and professionalism. For instance, if a nurse discovers that the patient is not being fed well, he/she is required to report this matter to the relevant authorities. In addition, a patient’s level of hygiene should be at par with the recommended standards.
The conflict between legal and ethical implications can only happen if the patient is not aware that she is paying for her family’s services. However, if the arrangement between the family members and the patient was mutually pre-agreed, there are no legal and ethical conflicts regarding the situation.