Ethical Decision-Making Model
My scenario is about a young Mexican woman who claims that she contributed to a death of someone who abused her for years as a child. I have to be careful about this complex situation because according to the Ethics Committee, they recommend that I should explore a skillfully accepted decision-making model and apply the model that is most relevant to my particular situation. Failing to follow the model is an ethical problem in itself; for the reason being that I would creating a greater risk to the public if I were to rely on my own intuition alone about the situation. In my situation, I will be integrating Welfel’s ethical decision making model to come up with a final decision. First, I am going to recognize that there is an ethical dilemma.
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Doing this provides more concrete and detailed thinking in regards to confidentiality and struggles in the ethics codes and laws alone. The requirements and obligations concerning to when confidentiality should be broken can be discussed extensively in the counseling literature. For example, I can find a decision-making model that is designed to address specific dilemmas linked to confidentiality could help me tremendously (Welfel, 2015). Step six includes applying ethical principles to the situation. At this point I am going to apply the essential ethical principles to my decision-making process that supports the relevant ethical codes to the situation. The five ethical principles consist of respect for: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice and fidelity (Welfel, 2015). These principles provide me with a framework for examining my work with the client. Furthermore, applying these principles to my current situation allows me to gain additional clarity about the ethics of each of the options that I came up with earlier in step …show more content…
This step is an important engagement for all counselors because colleagues and supervisors provide an objective perspective about the situation. Consultation also helps me summarize what perceptions I have gained so far in the process. Most importantly, this step will help me process through my choices through feedback on what the most ethical choice is (Welfel, 2015). Step eight helps me deliberate and decide between my options. After working through Welfel’s model carefully, I will now sort through all of the gathered information and prepare for implementation. This step links all of the pieces together and may be difficult to do, but I have to do it by myself. I need to recognize my moral obligation to the profession and most importantly to the client. After working through the decision making process, I have concluded that I have no good reason to break my client’s right to confidentiality in this particular case. After reviewing the professional standards and codes, I am only required to break confidentiality according to ACA, when there is severe and predictable harm or when legal requirements demand it, which in this case there isn’t (Welfel,
Doing this provides more concrete and detailed thinking in regards to confidentiality and struggles in the ethics codes and laws alone. The requirements and obligations concerning to when confidentiality should be broken can be discussed extensively in the counseling literature. For example, I can find a decision-making model that is designed to address specific dilemmas linked to confidentiality could help me tremendously (Welfel, 2015). Step six includes applying ethical principles to the situation. At this point I am going to apply the essential ethical principles to my decision-making process that supports the relevant ethical codes to the situation. The five ethical principles consist of respect for: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice and fidelity (Welfel, 2015). These principles provide me with a framework for examining my work with the client. Furthermore, applying these principles to my current situation allows me to gain additional clarity about the ethics of each of the options that I came up with earlier in step …show more content…
This step is an important engagement for all counselors because colleagues and supervisors provide an objective perspective about the situation. Consultation also helps me summarize what perceptions I have gained so far in the process. Most importantly, this step will help me process through my choices through feedback on what the most ethical choice is (Welfel, 2015). Step eight helps me deliberate and decide between my options. After working through Welfel’s model carefully, I will now sort through all of the gathered information and prepare for implementation. This step links all of the pieces together and may be difficult to do, but I have to do it by myself. I need to recognize my moral obligation to the profession and most importantly to the client. After working through the decision making process, I have concluded that I have no good reason to break my client’s right to confidentiality in this particular case. After reviewing the professional standards and codes, I am only required to break confidentiality according to ACA, when there is severe and predictable harm or when legal requirements demand it, which in this case there isn’t (Welfel,