One ethical issue that relates to this data is securing the data and ensuring that it is only used for the intended purposes…

In the healthcare industry, healthcare providers collect a lot of data from patients.
The data is then stored electronically and used in the treatment of patients as well as in the
making of critical healthcare decisions (Anderson, 2019). One ethical issue that relates to this
data is securing the data and ensuring that it is only used for the intended purposes. A breach
in the data may affect a patient and their family members negatively (Sankar et al., 2003).
One incident of the data breach that I witnessed related to when I was working in an
outpatient clinic. A lady was sick, and tests revealed that she had a sexually transmitted
infection. She also admitted that she had multiple sexual partners. A colleague happened to
know the boyfriend of the lady. She came and told me that she knew the boyfriend personally
and wanted to hint to him about the lady’s condition. I had to remind her that we swore to
respect the privacy of the patients. I also asked her not to try and access the medical records
to research the lady’s condition. I cited cases of breaches in patient
confidentiality and the suits that have arisen from such cases. She understood and stated that
she would not breach confidentiality. My situation did not involve other people. However, I
was willing to report her to the administration if she failed to adhere to my guidelines. I
understood the depth and consequences of the unethical thing that she intended to do and was
willing to stop her.

References

Anderson, CL (2019). Data breaches and electronic personal health information: What is
injury-in-fact and does HIPAA set a negligence standard of care? The Journal of
Legal Medicine, 39(3), 263-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2019.1653695
Sankar, P., Mora, S., Merz, J. F., & Jones, N. L. (2003). Patient perspectives on medical
confidentiality: a review of the literature. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18(8),
659-669.