Equity Law
Equity law is a set of legal principles that operates in addition to statutes and common
law and is intended to give judges flexibility to reach a verdict. Equity law is based on the
principles of ethics, morals, conscience, and etiquette. Medical professionals are expected to
have these principles to provide patient care.
The first principle is ethics, which is defined as the philosophical study of right and
wrong, good, and bad. Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgments. There
are also four principles of ethics: principle of respect for autonomy (autonomy, the ability to
allow one to make their own decisions), principle of beneficence (the obligation to do good),
principle of non-maleficence (the obligation to not harm an individual, however, will harm
cannot be avoided. We are to minimize the harm), and principle of justice (to treat patients fairly)
(Gracyk,2012). if it relates to the medical office in many ways. One way it relates is ethics apply
to all healthcare providers. Ethics also can help solve problems and issues such as life and death
choices, patient rights, informed consent, confidentiality, competence, and negligence. One must
be able to uphold the code of ethics, no matter what one's personal feelings. Healthcare
providers, often adopt code of ethics from places such as the American Association of medical
assistants (AAMA) to guide healthcare professionals to make the correct decision based off
ethics. Professionals must know right from wrong when working.
Morals are defined as a person’s standard for behaviors or beliefs of what is and is not
acceptable for them to do. Our textbook states “morals are sometimes used as a word of praise
while on other occasions it has a much broader meaning” (Flight & Pardew, 2018). Morals while
working in a medical office are having the ability to make good judgment, while holding
yourself to a certain standard. Morals are a type of characteristic that factors into the
determination of whether a person is good enough to be a healthcare professional, who people
trust their lives with. An example of morals is a nurse who notices a patient’s condition has
gotten worse, she has told the physician several times, but the physician just brushes it off. The
nurse knows that because of her morals and her holding herself to the highest standard to provide
quality care; she must do something. The nurse goes over the physician’s head to the person next
in charge and reports the patient’s condition. The patient is moved to ICU and treated
immediately by the next physician; the nurse knowing her morals saves the patient’s life.
Conscience is the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of
one's own conduct intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be
good. Conscience is a fundamental key concept in bio ethics and health sciences. The ability to
make decisions based on moral knowledge and choosing what is ethical or unethical. Conscience
is particularly important for healthcare professionals who are expected to make more decisions
regularly to provide the best care for their patient. However, a provider’s freedom to act on their
own conscience is not limited. They must still uphold the ethics of their profession.
There are times when healthcare providers refuse to hold up to their legal responsibilities.
This is called conscientious objection (Berkeley,2017). Some examples are refusing to perform
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in a situation that is medically futile or refusing to
terminate a pregnancy for a woman who is legally entitled to it.
Etiquette is defined as personal behavior in society or among others in a profession or
group (Parsons, 2018). Etiquette is important because it builds a framework for respectable
behavior, which helps to keep down conflicts, misunderstandings, and awkwardness within the
workplace. Etiquette shows respect for others, their cultures, beliefs, and values. Etiquette in the
healthcare field goes further than being polite and having exceptional manners. Etiquette is used
in the medical office to build trust with patients and workers to show them, you have the
characteristics of being not only a professional healthcare worker, but trustworthy and confident
as well. 5 Etiquette rules are:
1. Be mindful of your language.
2. Use proper greetings.
3. Be a good listener.
4. Practice excellent communication.
5. Be punctual.
These four principles of ethical laws are critical to medical professionals. Ethic shows
what is considered acceptable. Morals or known right from wrong. Conscience goes with ethics
and morals; you must have a good conscious to ensure you are doing things the right way.
Etiquette shows respect for others and their feelings, allowing them to feel comfortable. “Do you
have them do you.” Luke 6:31 (Bible,2024).
References
Berkley Center. (2017). Conflicted ideas of Conscience.
https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/conflicted-ideas-of-conscience. Accessed
June 12, 2024
Bible. (2024). New International version. https://bible.com/bible/111/MAT.7.NIV
Flight, M.&Pardew, W.M. (2018). Law, Liabiltiy, and Ethics for medical Office Professionals.
Boston, MA.02210: Cengage Learning.
Gracyk, T. (2012). Four fundamental Ethical Principles (a very simple introduction).
https://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20115/four_basic_principles.htm. Accessed
June 12, 2024
Parsons, R. (2018). Basic Prnciples of Ethics. https://iepcourse.wordpress.com. Accessed June
12, 2024
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