Equivalence of care, confidentiality, and professional independence must underpin the hospital care of individuals experiencing incarceration.
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BORIS DOI
Date of Publication
February 21, 2023
Publication Type
Article
Division/Institute
Subject(s)
Series
BMC Medical Ethics
ISSN or ISBN (if monograph)
1472-6939
Publisher
BioMed Central
Language
English
Publisher DOI
PubMed ID
36803367
Uncontrolled Keywords
Description
We present the reflections of three clinical practitioners on ethical considerations when caring for individuals experiencing incarceration needing in-patient hospital services. We examine the challenges and critical importance of adhering to core principles of medical ethics in such settings. These principles encompass access to a physician, equivalence of care, patient's consent and confidentiality, preventive healthcare, humanitarian assistance, professional independence, and professional competence. We strongly believe that detained persons have a right to access healthcare services that are equivalent to those available in the general population, including in-patient services. All the other established standards to uphold the health and dignity of people experiencing incarceration should also apply to in-patient care, whether this takes place outside or inside the prison boundaries. Our reflection focuses on the principles of confidentiality, professional independence, and equivalence of care. We argue that the respect for these three principles, although they present specific implementation challenges, is foundational for implementing the other principles. Critically important are respect for the distinct roles and responsibilities of healthcare and security staff as well as transparent and non-hierarchical dialogue between them to ensure optimal health outcomes and functioning of hospital wards while balancing the ongoing tensions between care and control.
File(s)
File | File Type | Format | Size | License | Publisher/Copright statement | Content | |
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s12910-023-00891-3.pdf | text | Adobe PDF | 767.08 KB | Attribution (CC BY 4.0) | published |