George is a 5th-year doctoral student completing his predoctoral internship at a psychological services clinic under the supervision of Dr. Ross, a newly licensed clinical psychologist well-known for her innovative work in treating individuals with PTSD. Because of financial cutbacks, the clinic did not replace another staff clinician position around the time of Georges hiring. This has resulted in an increasing and more varied workload for George, who has started drinking at night after work to cope with his increasing anxiety and the demands of his internship.
Esther, a 23-year-old patient with bipolar disorder, was assigned to George. After eight sessions with Esther, George received a message from a man who identified himself as Esthers father. During their long conversation, he expressed growing concerns about Esthers noncompliance with her diabetes treatment regimen. George had not been aware of Esthers medical history nor had he or Dr. Ross ever worked with a patient with diabetes. George told Esthers father that he would speak with her. Three weeks later, before George took any action, Esther spiraled into a depressive episode, stopped taking her insulin, and was rushed to the hospital by her father. The next day, with Esther in a coma, George received two callsone from Esthers hospital requesting consultation and one from Esthers family.
Your task is to prepare an ethical case analysis by exploring the various ethical considerations in this case. Consider different factors and perspectives. In doing this, your response should address the following:
Both George and Dr. Ross are expected to abide by the APA Ethics Code. Did George and/or Dr. Ross seemingly violate any APA ethical standards and general principles? Which ones? Why? What were the problems with their actions?
Should George have taken different actions at any point prior to Esthers hospitalization? Please evaluate his approach and propose/evaluate alternate approaches he should have taken.
Should George decline to consult with the hospital and family? Why or why not? How should George approach this ethical dilemma?
Preparing Your Response:
Structure of the Response:
Identify the main ethical domains/themes relevant to the case i.e., think about some of our main topics in class, core themes in the case, etc.
You can have a brief introduction that introduces the domains, though this is optional. However, do not restate large portions of the vignette in your introduction or the analysis. Any information that you describe from the vignette should be linked to your analysis.
Have a section for each domain where you address both ethical violations and recommended actions, rather than leaving the recommended actions for the end of the analysis.
Use subheadings for each section (and maybe subsections if you have them). Do not simply answer the three questions above in order. Do not use APA Ethics Standards or General Principles as subheadings.
Vagueness of the Vignette:
The case vignette is not 100% clear and specific. This is intentional. Be careful not to jump to conclusions (that is, you must provide justification for every point).
When providing your analysis about something in the vignette that seems unclear, you may want to mention what other information about the case you would need to know to support your analysis and determine whether an ethical violation was made.
However, if you decide to make inferences about information not specific in the vignette, make this known in your response. (For example, you may write something like If George did not., then he would have violated the ethical standard and should have.). As such, I will not respond to emails requesting clarity on the vignette.
Cite APA Code and Course Readings:
You must explain and justify your answers by citing specific Standards and General Principles from the APA Ethics Code, as well as points from your course readings. Cite all of your sources clearly and using APA style.
Show how your response to this ethical dilemma is informed by what youre learning about in this course.
Do not include long quotes (i.e. more than 4 words in a row, whether with quotation marks around them or not) from the Ethics Code or from the readings. Use your own words. I cannot stress this enough. You must demonstrate that you understand the readings you are citing by paraphrasing (using your own words).
Because you are not allowed to quote, you may be tempted to copy statements from readings and think it is justified as long as you cite your sources. This would be considered plagiarism. I will check the Turnitin
Finally, integrate information from readings into your reports. Do not just tack on a point from the reading in the middle or end of a paragraph. You must clearly apply it to the case (i.e. explicitly connect it to your analysis) so I know you understand the meaning and relevance of it.
Format and Submission Information:
Please submit your responses directly via the Canvas assignments tab. Points will be deducted for late submissions.
Responses should be 2-3 pages of text, not including the title page and reference page. Points will be deducted if you exceed the page limit.
Follow APA Style. Use double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font. Use 1-inch margins. Please use APA style in formatting the title and reference pages and all subheadings, citations, and references. Points will be deducted for APA style violations. You do not need to formally cite the APA Ethics Code, but please cite and reference any other readings you refer to in your response.
Original Work Statement: To receive a grade on this assignment, you must include the following statement at the bottom of your title page: This report is my own work. I attest that I have not received any assistance, or reviewed reports, from students who have taken the course previously. I acknowledge that doing so would constitute plagiarism and result in receiving a zero for this assignment and potentially an F for the course.
Grading:
Grades are out of 15 points and will be based on how well you present your overall response, as well as address the major specific ethical issues in the case.
Your overall response should be well-written and well-organized.
Use a formal style of writing. Do not use I statements.
Organize your thoughts systematically, tackling issues in an appropriate order. Usually, it makes sense to work through the case chronologically or topically.
Think about flow. Use topic sentences. Use proper transitions between sentences and paragraphs. Use subheadings to enhance organization.
Points will be deducted if responses do not address key ethical issues and standards. However, do not identify many ethical issues to be safe and simply cover your bases, because you will lose points for identifying ethical issues and standards that do not closely pertain to the case.
For your exploration of each main ethical issue in the case, you will be awarded more points if your exploration is:
Clear and organized It must make sense and be easy to follow.
Logical, sensible, thoughtful, and well-reasoned Explain your reasoning in depth. Be thorough. Your examination should articulate multiple factors and perspectives when appropriate. Avoid extreme statements and generalizations. Be fair yet decisive in your reasoning.
Well-justified You must support your arguments by integrating and applying relevant points from your course readings. Provide substance. Your exploration and approach should be consistent with what you are learning about in this course. Points from readings should be used to enhance your arguments by being applied specifically to this case. For example, write something like In line with recommendations from Smith (2003), George should _______________. That is, it should be clear to the reader what information/points you are referencing from the given article. Writing George should _____ (Smith, 2003) is not clear and suggests that the Smith (2003) article discussed George.
