http://www.acufinder.com/articles_building_detail.php?nid=Acupuncture+Practice+Ethics 04/25/2024 01:58:44 pm Acupuncture Practice Ethics By: Acufinder Editorial Staff Acupuncture and Oriental medicine practitioners should be well-informed about medical ethics, how they are incorporated into their practice and the legalities surrounding them. Medical ethics are a very important part of being a healer and, in the United States and Canada, more than 25 universities offer degrees in medical ethics as a specialty. In many instances, the subject of ethics is also part of the curriculum in the education of physicians and other healthcare professionals. These rules and laws offer a framework within which the acupuncture practitioner can act in the best interest of the patient. For a healthcare practice of any discipline or specialty to be considered "ethical," it must respect all four principles of medical ethics which are: In Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Beauchamp and Childress identify seven elements of informed consent which include the threshold elements of competence and voluntariness; the information elements of disclosure, recommendation, and understanding; and the consent elements of decision and authorization. As explained by the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, the purpose of a healthcare provider's ethical duty to maintain patient confidentiality is to allow the patient to feel free to make a full and frank disclosure of information to the healthcare provider with the knowledge that he/she will protect the confidential nature of the information disclosed. Full disclosure enables the physician or other healthcare provider to diagnose conditions properly and to treat the patient appropriately. In return for the patient's honesty, the physician or other health care provider generally should not reveal confidential communications or information without the patient's express consent unless required to disclose the information by law. There are exceptions to the rule, such as where a patient threatens bodily harm to himself or herself or to another person. Printed from Acufinder.com http://www.acufinder.com/articles_building_detail.php?nid=Acupuncture+Practice+Ethics 04/25/2024 01:58:44 pm |