SOCW 6103 Week 2 – Discussion 2: Duty to Warn and Protect

Discussion 2: Duty to Warn and Protect

Addictions professionals are in a unique position in that they must maintain confidentiality while possessing exclusive knowledge about behavior that may result in injury. How do they balance these conflicting priorities? Under special protection, addictions professionals have the duty to warn and protect if they become aware clients are acting in a way in which their addiction may harm themselves or others. Understanding your legal and ethical obligations and the resulting social consequences is essential when working with an impaired individual whose decisions may have life or death consequences for others.

For this Discussion, review this week’s resources as well as the ones that you find in the Walden Library and reputable sources on the Internet. Reflect on different situations in which “duty to warn and protect” laws apply in your state (Ohio). Select a duty to warn and protect law that applies to your role as an addiction professional in the community. Consider why your selected law is important.

Provide a Discussion Post containing the following Topics, Content, and Headings: 

–  A summary of the duty to warn and protect law in the state of Ohio. 

– Then explain issues or events that necessitated the creation of the law. 

o Be specific and provide examples to support your response. 

o Additionally, describe either an addendum that would strengthen the existing law or a new law that you would create and enact to further protect the rights of clients impaired by addictions. 

o What inequity or limitation are you attempting to address? 

o What outcomes would you like to see if your law passed? 

o Support your response using the resources and the current literature.

Must contain at least 5 references. Be sure to reference the Ohio laws for Duty to warn and Duty to Protect, The NASW, the CSWE, all contained in the attachment. Reference Lambert (2011) and Robinson (2017)

The following relates to Ohio:

Several of the Ohio codes include Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 2305.51 Mental health professional or organization not liable for violent behavior by client or patient. This policy, in short, defines the social worker’s duty to warn the potential victim if they believe their client presents an imminent threat to that person, people, and individual. The Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 5122-3-12 details the Duty to protect requirements. OAC 5122-3-12 is the policy to implement the duty to protect requirement detailed in ORC 2305.51. 

Week 2: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Addictions

Your client, Simon, who is a surgeon, confides in you about his cocaine addiction. You are certain that Simon is abusing drugs at the same time he is performing surgical procedures on patients.

What should you do? 
Should you take steps to protect Simon’s patients, or would that be a violation of confidentiality? 
Where does the ethical line fall for addiction professionals and what legal requirements are in place?

This week, you explore the laws created to protect those with substance abuse disorders and examine how these laws may influence the work of addiction professionals. In addition, you investigate the need for special protections under the law for professionals working in addictions.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

· Analyze anti-discrimination laws related to addictions

· Analyze influence of anti-discrimination laws on addiction professionals

· Analyze laws related to duty to warn and protect

· Analyze need for special protections under the law for addiction professionals

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Lambert, S. F. (2011). Ethical and legal issues in addictions outcome research. Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, 2(1), 25–36.

Courtwright, D. T. (2012). Addiction and the science of history. Addiction, 107(3), 486–492.

Robinson, S. M. (2017). “Alcoholic” or “Person with alcohol use disorder”? Applying person-first diagnostic terminology in the clinical domain. Substance Abuse, 38(1), 9-14.

Discussion 2: Duty to Warn and Protect

Addictions professionals are in a unique position in that they must maintain confidentiality while possessing exclusive knowledge about behavior that may result in injury. How do they balance these conflicting priorities? Under special protection, addictions professionals have the duty to warn and protect if they become aware clients are acting in a way in which their addiction may harm themselves or others. Understanding your legal and ethical obligations and the resulting social consequences is essential when working with an impaired individual whose decisions may have life or death consequences for others.

For this Discussion, review this week’s resources as well as the ones that you find in the Walden Library and reputable sources on the Internet. Reflect on different situations in which “duty to warn and protect” laws apply in your state (Ohio). Select a duty to warn and protect law that applies to your role as an addiction professional in the community. Consider why your selected law is important.

Provide a Discussion Post containing the following Topics, Content, and Headings: 

· A summary of the duty to warn and protect law in the state of Ohio.

· Then explain issues or events that necessitated the creation of the law.

· Be specific and provide examples to support your response.

· Additionally, describe either an addendum that would strengthen the existing law or a new law that you would create and enact to further protect the rights of clients impaired by addictions.

· What inequity or limitation are you attempting to address?

· What outcomes would you like to see if your law passed?

· Support your response using the resources and the current literature.

Must contain at least 5 references. Be sure to reference the Ohio laws for Duty to warn and Duty to Protect, The NASW, the CSWE, all contained in the attachment. Reference Lambert (2011) and Robinson (2017)

The following relates to Ohio:

Several of the Ohio codes include Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 2305.51 Mental health professional or organization not liable for violent behavior by client or patient. This policy, in short, defines the social worker’s duty to warn the potential victim if they believe their client presents an imminent threat to that person, people, and individual. The Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 5122-3-12 details the Duty to protect requirements. OAC 5122-3-12 is the policy to implement the duty to protect requirement detailed in ORC 2305.51.

1

Policy Identification

Ohio

Walden University

Policy Identification

This paper is written with the student referencing internship work hours completed at Access Ohio. Access Ohio. This student’s internship location is Access Ohio located in Dayton Ohio. Access Ohio provides both outpatient and inpatient treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health conditions. The student will be working in the outpatient area with clients who may be working through a substance use disorder and mental health conditions related to the used disorder. There are many laws, regulations, policies, and rules which are intended to govern and control the administration of services to assist those facing substance use disorder. The following pages will detail and describe several policies pertaining to SUD, the policy impact on the field agency, and propose specific recommendations on how to advocate for policies pertaining to advancing social justice for the agency and the clients it serves.

Substance Used Disorder Policies

There are many policies designed to define and regulate the service which agencies can and must provide to clients with substance use disorders. In addition to Ohio laws, social workers follow rules and guidelines established by The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Council on Social Work Education. The NASW has established ethical provisions, guidelines, and requirements which we as social workers follow. The NASW Code of Ethics social justice, dignity, importance of human relationships, worth of a person, integrity, and competence, compels us to be engaged in political and social actions to advocate for policy and legislation which undermine reproductive rights. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) details nine areas of social work practice to which students are to gain competency, practice, and understanding. CSWE competency number five (Engage in policy practice) details how social workers understand that human rights, social justice, social welfare and services, are mediated by policy at the federal (Macro), state (Mezzo), and agency (micro) levels. Access Ohio, and others like is, which provide services for SUD and mental health follow Ohio codes. Several of the Ohio codes include Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 2305.51 Mental health professional or organization not liable for violent behavior by client or patient. This policy, in short, defines the social worker’s duty to warn the potential victim if they believe their client presents an imminent threat to that person, people, and individual. The Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 5122-3-12 details the Duty to protect requirements. OAC 5122-3-12 is the policy to implement the duty to protect requirement detailed in ORC 2305.51. The duty to protect is the notification of a credible stated threat by a patient or client, the workers are required to report the credible threat to the chief clinical officer. Other codes pertinent to the interns’ micro practice within the agency are OAC 5122-27-04 Progress notes and OAC 5122-29-13 SUD case management services. OAC 5122-27-04 details the documentation processes and procedures for documenting the progress or lack of progress toward the achievement of the treatment plan goals (Lawriter, 2018). OAC 5122-29-13 details the case management activities provide to assist and support clients and patients in acquiring access to necessary medical, social, educational, and other services essential to meeting basic human needs (Lawriter, 2018).

Advocating for Policies

Many laws, rules, regulations, and policies have been implemented as results of the assessment of requirements and needs. With specific reference to SUD and mental health, laws have been evaluated for effectiveness, enhance, revised, and implemented to assist those with substance use disorder and mental health concerns. By reading, learning, understanding, following, and implementing existing laws we are best positioned to implement treatment plans which will be effective for our clients and patients. With only being at Access Ohio, for approximately five weeks, my plan is to do my best to learn and understand the existing laws and how they are utilized in the most effective manner. This student’s field supervisor has many years of hands on experience in working with clients with SUD and mental health concerns and conditions. If this student has a concern on how a law is written and it’s intended use, with 100 percent confidence the field supervisor will be able to provide the details and understanding. At that time, if a gap in service is identified, the student and supervisor can work together to provide detailed descriptions of the possible need of an ORC or OAC enhancement, revision, or ask questions for clarification to the law and policy makers.

References

Council on Social Work Education (2015), retrieved from

https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/Accreditation/Accreditation-Process/2015-EPAS/2015EPAS_Web_FINAL .aspx

LAW Writer® Ohio Laws and Rules (2018), 5122-29-13 SUD case management services, retrieved from

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/5122-29-13

LAW Writer® Ohio Laws and Rules (2018), 5122-29-13 SUD case management services, retrieved from

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/5122-27-04

National Association of Social Workers, (August 9, 2018), The personal is Political: Why social workers must take action to protect abortion access and reproductive rights, retrieved from

https://www.naswnc.org/news/412688/Editorial-Social-Workers-must-take-action-to-protect-abortion-access-and-reproductive-rights.htm