In what section of the Code of Ethics would you look for guidance?

You are a social worker in a psychiatric hospital setting. While most patients are discharged from the hospital setting after only a few days, some patients are able to stay for longer periods of time. Due to the mandate from insurance companies to discharge patients as soon as possible, discharge planning begins when patients are admitted.

Your client, Bea, was admitted for psychiatric symptoms and is terrified to leave the hospital after a stay of over three weeks. Your responsibility is to locate long-term housing and outpatient care for her in the community. As you meet with her one morning, you find her tearfully pleading with you to be allowed to stay longer, as she does not feel able to live independently. You are not sure that she is ready either, although the medical staff states that she is ready for discharge. You feel caught between the demands of your organization and the wishes of Bea.

a.What three primary values does your thinking about Bea’s situation represent?

b.Is this an ethical dilemma? Justify your answer.

c.In what section of the Code of Ethics would you look for guidance?

d.Apply one strategy for resolving ethical dilemmas discussed in the chapter to Bea’s situation.

e.How will you go about resolving this situation?

f.Compare your response with other students. Do different strategies lead to different resolutions?

After reading the following scenarios (below), choose one of them (A-D) consider these questions:

a.What is the ethical issue?

b.What are the values of the client system?

c.Are they in conflict with your values? Societal values?

d.What strategy would you use to resolve the situation?

e.What else would you do?

Scenario A: In a public setting over lunch, one of your co-workers begins speaking disparagingly about a client who she finds challenging. The co-worker does not use the client’s full name. Scenario B: You are new to the area in which you have taken a job. Your new client, a hairdresser, offers to cut your hair. Scenario C: You are seeing a couple for marriage counseling. Both parties report that they are committed to remaining in the marriage. While you are out socially, you see the wife holding hands with someone other than her husband. Scenario D: You are working with a teenage girl in a youth shelter. She reveals to you that she was raped by her neighbor, who is involved with gangs and drugs. She reports that she told her father, and they agreed not to press charges due to fear of retaliation

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