Elizabeth visited the home of an elderly man and got him to sign a release of information form so she could process an application to the county nursing home. In the man’s records were references to the fact that many years ago as a teenager he was convicted of shooting a man in a bar fight, a crime for which he served 2 years in prison. She knows the people at the home will be titillated over this little tidbit of information, especially her friend Rhoda, who does the intakes. Even though she knows this is not part of the home’s evaluation, that the client has led an exemplary life since that time, and that the nursing home staff might take it out of context, she releases the information anyway, based on her client’s signature on the release form. She and Rhoda have a good laugh about it the next day.
The above hypothetical practice situations are designed to help you apply what you have learned in this chapter. For each situation, decide what was done in the situation that was unethical.
