Question

A dental assistant is working with a dentist in the examination of a new patient. The patient has a severely abscessed tooth and will require extensive root canal work. As the assistant prepares for the invasive procedure, the patient mentions that his partner has recently died of AIDS and that he, too, has AIDS. The assistant freezes. He is afraid of getting infected with the AIDS virus. 1. Can he refuse to assist in this procedure? Why or why not? Use ethical virtues to support your answer. situation using Dr. Lo's clinical model. committee and a quality assurance 2. Explain how you would act in this 3. Discuss the potential role of an ethics program in this case. 4. Describe which type of ethics you would subscribe to as it relates to this case and why.

Answer 1

1) A health care profession cannot refuse in assisting in the procedure because it goes against the ethical virtue in medical practice. A patient has to be treated for any sort of illness with proper protective techniques used by health care professional

2)From Dr Lo's clinical model the dental assistant can gather information, sort out the ethical issues and resolve the dilemma for decision making

3)The potential role of ethical committee are to promote shared decision making between patient and clinician, to maintain ethical environment for health care professionals and to protect Patient rights.

The quality assurance program have a view on providing quality of care to patients irrespective of disease conditions

4)The type of ethics which can be subscribed are confidentiality, autonomy