Transcript Additional Bonus Material

Additional Bonus Material
MSSWA 2013 Spring Conference
March 25, 2013
Bonus Material
• The rest of this PowerPoint is additional
material related to legal obligations and
Professional Duty
Ethical Decision Making
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Legal obligations
Duty of Care-laws governing provision of services
Duty to respect privacy
Duty to maintain confidentiality
Duty to inform-legal requirements about
information regarding services
• Duty to report-reporting criminal behavior
• Duty to warn-warning potential victims of
violence
Duty of Care
• You are legally obligated to provide a
reasonable standard of care
• In terms of school social work, you are
expected to be knowledgeable about laws and
policies related to special education services,
mandatory reporting laws-do you have
others?
• Professional record-keeping is part of thiswhat practices do you have related to this?
Duty of care….
• Your social work activities need to be
“congruent with generally accepted theory
and research”
• You need to have a sound professional
rationale and evidence to support what you
are doing
• Unusual interventions that do not have a
sound rationale and evidence to support their
safety can increase your liability
Duty to Respect Privacy
• Under most circumstances you are not
entitled to intrude on the privacy of those you
work with
• Includes imposing your religious beliefs unless
asked specifically to do so
• Clients have a right to basic privacy
Duty to Maintain Confidentiality
• Information shared with you is not to be
shared with third parties
• In general, material shared by clients is their
property, not yours
• Under most circumstances, clients must give
informed consent before you can share
information
• This can be especially challenging in a school
setting
Duty to inform
• It is your responsibility to inform clients about
policies and laws that could affect the services
they get..in the school setting, this might be
parents regarding their children’s right to
services
• You should give clients information about your
qualifications as also be honest regarding your
limitations
Duty to Report
• You need to be clear about your responsibility
as a mandated reporter and your legal
obligation to report if someone’s life is at risk
• A social worker must have with reasonable
evidence to conclude that the client poses a
risk of harm. “Suspicion alone is insufficient”
(United States v. Hayes, 6th Cir, 2000)
Duty to Warn and Protect
• Tarasoff v. California Board of Regents
established that helping professionals are
obligated to take some action to protect the
lives of third parties
• Some actions can violate some aspects of a
client’s right to confidentiality and privacy
• Be very careful to document exactly what was
said and also what you then did
Difference Between Law and
Professional Ethics
• At times, a practitioner may follow the law but
be acting unethically
• Past laws regarding mandatory sterilization
• Laws about reporting and deportation of
illegal immigrants
• Social workers may break the law for ethically
principled reasons but there is a general
assumption that we have an ethical duty to
obey the law
NASW Code on this topic
• “Instances may arise when social workers
ethical obligations conflict with…relevant laws
or regulations. When such conflicts occur,
social workers must make a responsible effort
to resolve the conflict in a manner that is
consistent with the values, principles and
standards expressed in the Code. If a
reasonable resolution of the conflict does not
appear possible, social workers should seek
proper consultation before making a decision”
Malpractice and Unethical Behavior
• Unethical Activity-when one departs from the
usual practice that a “prudent professional”
would have rendered in the same situation
• Unethical behavior-violates the professional
principles and standards of the profession’s Code
• Failure to provide a proper professional service
can lead to malpractice/civil suits; failure to
provide ethical service can lead to sanctions
Most common malpractice
• Boundary violations-40% sexual relationships
• Incorrect treatment-what might this be in the
school setting?
• Suicide of patients
• Dual relationships (non sexual)
• Urban areas more likely to have complaints of
boundary violations, including dual roles
KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD PRACTICE ARE THE
BEST DEFENSE AGAINST LIABILITY