Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Explain the differences between good/bad decisions, good/good decisions and bad/bad decisions.
2. Identify and explain the process a client must go through to win a malpractice case against a social worker.
3. How can social workers avoid malpractice actions by clients?
4. Choose 5 out of 10 arguments provided by the authors as to why some social workers believe professional ethics are not needed, and explain the five you chose.
5. Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between professional values and professional ethics.
6. Discuss the overlap between general ethics and professional ethics. See Figure 2.2 on page 21.
7. Brainstorm with class then review Table 2.2, The Possible Bases for Malpractice Suits. Have the students provide examples for each situation and discuss how to correct the ethical dilemmas.
8. Discuss what students think about the following statement: “Ethics is not primarily concerned with getting people to do what they believe to be right, but rather with helping them to decide what is right” (Jones, Sontag, Beckner and Fogelin, 1977, pg. 8).
9. Discuss the gap that is sometimes found between personal and professional values.
10. Discuss the legal and ethical requirements when an HIV-positive client admits to his social worker that he continues to share needles or engage in unprotected sexual relations without notifying his partner of his conditions?
11. Discuss some of the possible bases for malpractice suits.
12. Given the following case study, have the discuss you personal values versus what the profession states your six core values should be (p. 17). Also, discuss issues of confidentiality, informed consent, privileged communication, reporting procedures, and racial injustice.
Maria is a new social worker in a state psychiatric hospital. During a treatment team meeting she is told that Dr. Lewis spoke with her client’s father about his diagnosis and treatment at the local health club. Maria knew her client (age 21) did not sign consent for his family to receive any information about his hospital stay or treatment. Maria became enraged calling Dr. Lewis a “towel head with his turban wrapped to tight.” Maria left the team meeting and reported Dr. Lewis to the hospital director and patient advocate. Later that same afternoon, Maria’s supervisor called her into her office to discuss what happened and to talk about comments made about Dr. Lewis.
5. Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between professional values and professional ethics.
ReplyDeleteEthical Decisions for Social Work Practice pgs 20-22
Profession ethics provide the guidance that enables a social worker to transform professional values into professional practice activities. Ethical principles do not describe the ethical behavior expected of professional practice, but provide screens for assessing practice options for their rightness or wrongness. Professional ethics are closely related to general societal ethics just as social work professional values. The differences between professional values and ethics pertain to priorities, emphases, intensities, or applications.
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ReplyDelete3. How can social workers avoid malpractice actions by clients?
ReplyDeleteKnowledge and good practice are the best defenses against liability, In addition, sound risk management can reduce the degree of risk by implementing a plan for practitioners and agencies that includes having (a) familiarity with “wrongful acts” and possible malpractice actions, (b) a risk management audit, (c) a consultative relationship with legal counsel, (d) specialist consultants as needed, and (e) continuing education (Kurzman, 1995). There are additional means of protecting oneself from malpractice actions. One’s practice can be limited to clients for whom the social worker is prepared by virtue of education, training, and experience. Other precautions are honesty and fidelity with clients, knowing one’s limitations, and using consultation for difficult situations (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2003).
Corey, G., Corey, M.S., & Callanan, P. (2003). Issues and ethics in the helping professional (6th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning Publishing Co.
Kurzman, P.A. (1995). Professional liability and malpractice (pp. 1921-1927). Encyclopedia of social work (19th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press.
(Page 32)
Make sure you use your ethical textbook only for your responses. Be sure to include page number and correct citation. I will post grades shortly.
ReplyDelete11. Discuss some of the possible bases for malpractice suits.
ReplyDeleteThere are several bases that can be the cause for malpractice suit. The malpractice suit begins with the social worker failing to provide proper professional service. Some of the situations where malpractice exists include a social worker who has had sexual relation with the client. This can be seen as unethical as well as illegal. The social worker may then face a civil damage suit, criminal charges, and professional sanctions for unethical behavior.
Pg. 30
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
2. Identify and explain the process a client must go through to win a malpractice case against a social worker.
ReplyDeleteA client must prove these four conditions in order to win a malpractice suit:
1)The defendant (social worker) must have a legal duty to provide a professional service to the plantiff (client). Ordinarily, a social worker has such a legal duty once a person becomes a client (whether in an agency or in private practice).
2)The social worker's performance must have been negligent or below generally accepted professional standards of competence. What would other social workers have done under the same circumstances. "Good intentions" or "ignorance" are rarely an effective defense.
3)The plaintiff (client) must have suffered an injury or monetary loss.
4)The social worker's actions or inaction must have caused the alleged injury or loss.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 31. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
6. Discuss the overlap between general ethics and professional ethics. See Figure 2.2 on page 21.
ReplyDeleteIn the overlap figure it shows general ethics as well as professional ethics. In general ethics, all persons shall be respected as equals whereas in professional ethics all persons shall be respected as equals, but priority shall be given to the interest of the client. In the overlap area the part mentioning the priority of interest given to the clients is where there is a difference between the two. This is the case because professional ethics provide the guidance that enables a social worker to transform professional values into professional practice activities.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. Belmont: Cengage Learning
9. Discuss the gap that is sometimes found between personal and professional values.
ReplyDelete1. Social Workers evaluate service to others above self-interest. (Service)
2. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnderable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. (Social Injustice)
3. Social workers treat each person in a caring respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnicity diversity. (Dignity and Worth of a Person)
4. Social workers understand that relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change. (Importance of Human Relationships)
5. Social workers are continually aware of the profession's mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards, and practice in a manner consistent with them. (Integrity)
6. Social workers continually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills and to apply them in practice. (Competence)
I think the gap that is sometimes found in between personal and professional values for social workers is when an individual lacks these values in there personal lives. I think a very competent social worker is one who have the same values in and outside the office.
My citation for my response above is Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 20. Belmont: Cengage Learning
ReplyDeleteI think Tiawny and Martha deserve an applause for being the first one's to take the quiz! Congrats keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone should make sure they complete all the quizzes so that they get all the points they can!
ReplyDelete10. Discuss the legal and ethical requirements when an HIV-positive client admits to his social worker that he continues to share needles or engage in unprotected sexual relations without notifying his partner of his conditions?
ReplyDeleteEverything in life has a limit and confidentiality is not excluded from this. As social workers confidentiality is a major part of our profession and one of our main social work values but if someone is causeing harm to themselves and to others it is up to the social worker to inform the authorites or whom the issue may concern. It is well known that HIV can be fatal and the client's acts can be considered manslaughter if he was found guilty. As social workers we have to be able to prioritize and see which act would be more important, saving the life of another or sticking to the social worker values.I would choose saving someone's life hands down.
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ReplyDeletep.85
ReplyDeleteDolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 85. Belmont: Cengage Learning
8. Discuss what students think about the following statement: “Ethics is not primarily concerned with getting people to do what they believe to be right, but rather with helping them to decide what is right” (Jones, Sontag, Beckner and Fogelin, 1977, pg. 8).
ReplyDelete-I think that the social worker must guide the client in the right direction without putting their personal feelings within the situation. The social worker must understand the client’s right to self-determination and give great alternatives to a given situation that enables the clients to have the ability to choose what direction to take.
-Though the terms values and ethics are often used interchangeably, they are not identical. Ethics are deduced from values and must be in consonance with them. The difference between them is that values are concerned with what is good and desirable, while ethics deal with what is right and correct. A person’s right to privacy, for example—a good and desirable thing—is an important value of American society.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 21 Belmont: Cengage Learning.
4. Choose 5 out of 10 arguments provided by the authors as to why some social workers believe professional ethics are not needed, and explain the five you chose.
ReplyDeleteCompetence is enough. Correct practice is based on competence and skill, not on the mastery of ehtical principles. Many so-called ethical problems merely reflect poor practice.
Each case is unique. Every case is different and every client presents unique problems. No code of ehtical principles can provide adequate guidance for every unique situation a social worker faces
There is no time. Social work practitioners have not time for lengthy ethical reflections because practice demands that they act quickly
Relativity. What is thought to be right varies from country to country and even within a country at differnt times and for different population goups.
Coercion. The adoption of a code of professional ethics will result in latent, if not overt, coercion to make practitioners act only in accordance with that document.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 34. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
A client must prove these four conditions in order to win a malpractice suit.
ReplyDelete1) The defendant (social worker) must have a legal duty to provide a professional service to the plaintiff. Ordinarily, a social worker has such a legal duty once a person becomes a client (whether in an agency or in private practice).
2) The social worker's performance must have been negligent or below generally accepted professional standards of competence. What would other social workers have done under the same circumstances? "Good intentions" or "ignorance" are rarely an effective defense.
3) The plaintiff (client) must have suffered an injury or monetary loss.
4) The social worker's actions or inaction must have caused the alleged injury or loss.
Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 31.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 2
ReplyDelete9. Discuss the gap that is sometimes found between personal and professional
values.
The gap that is sometimes found between personal and professional values is that they both are different because what you think my be right and is a value to you, will be completely different to your professional values. The gap comes into play because sometimes you don’t agree with something’s, but you have to deal with it with a nonjudgmental attitude because in the end your goal is to provide the best information and to give them self determination not push your values on them. If you feel like it’s too hard for you to abide by the professional values then the best thing to do would be to find a different area in to work in with your career were your values may be similar.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 20. Belmont: Cengage Learning
Explain the differences between good/bad decisions, good/good decisions and bad/bad decisions
ReplyDeleteThe decision maker does not know the probabilities of the various outcomes. A good decision is one that is based on logic, considers all available data and possible alternatives and applies the following quantitative steps: clearly define the problem at hand, list the possible alternatives, and identify the possible outcomes. Even if a good decision results in an unexpected or unfavorable outcome, if it is made properly, it is still a good decision. A bad decision is characterized as one made not based on logic, which doesn’t make use of all available information, doesn’t consider all alternatives and does not employ any quantitative approach. Even if a bad decision results in a “lucky” or favorable outcome, it is still a bad decision.
Examples:
Good Decision: Studying for a test ahead of time.
Bad Decision: Do not study. Try to cheat and ends up getting caught.
Good / Bad Decision: Studying at the last minute, but still fail.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 23-24. Belmont: Cengage Learning
Citation: Jeff, Haden. (November 30, 2009). Discuss decision theory. Explain what is meant by good and bad decisions, decision making under certainty, uncertainty, and under risk.
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ReplyDelete1. Explain the differences between good/bad decisions, good/good decisions and bad/bad decisions.
ReplyDeleteGood/bad decision is sensible decision with a bad outcome. For example, a single mother working two jobs to support her family and has left a ten year old to watch after the younger siblings. A neighbor notice this situation an contacts DHR in their local town. A good/good decision is a good decision with a good outcome. For example, 16 year old 5 months pregnant decides not to abort her unborn child. The client has a supportive family to help her during the pregnancy. A bad/bad decision is a bad decision with a bad outcome. For example a person who tries to cease a habit hangs around a group that continues the habit. This will influence the client to relapse.
Dolgoff, R., Frank, L., & Donna, H. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. pg 19-21. Belmont: Cengage Learning