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Essay on Delegation in Patient Care
To put it simply, patients' or clients' rights are merely a subcategory of human rights. Statements of patients' or clients' rights are merely statements about particular moral interests that a person might have in health care contexts and that require special protection when a person assumes the role of a patient or client. Referring to this particular set of interests in terms of 'patients' rights' or 'clients' rights' serves more the purposes of convenience and manageability than those of philosophy. For example, when the notion patients' rights or clients' rights is used, we know immediately what kind of context and what kind of rights claims are likely to be encountered. The notion of patients' rights or clients' rights in this instance immediately 'sets the scene', or identifies the domain of concern. In the case of human rights language, the scene that is set is much broader.
Some might consider human rights language in health care contexts to be somewhat cumbersome to manage. This is not to say that it would be inappropriate to use the notion of human rights in health care contexts; quite the reverse is true. In many respects, using human rights language might be more compelling and more effective in drawing attention to and demanding respect of the deserving moral interests of people in health care domains. (Beth Vaugham Cole, 2001).
It is perhaps important to clarify those patients' rights statements tend to include a mixture of civil rights, legal rights and moral rights. Popular examples of patients' rights include: a right to health care, a right to be informed, a right to participate in decision-making concerning treatment and care, a right to give an informed consent, a right to refuse consent, a right to have access to a trained interpreter, a right to know the name and status of attending health professionals, a right to a second opinion, a right to be treated with respect......
