Ethics in Jail Healthcare

I was very interested to learn that we were going to have a guest speaker in class. I think it adds a nice touch to any class, keeps students interested and just plain changes things up. The speaker we had from the Lake County Jail was quite interesting. It opened my eyes to the ethical issues that can plague a jail, issues that never came to mind when I think health care in a jail. I didn’t think that health care in a jail would go beyond the basic emergency needs of an inmate. I now know that everything from dental to mental health is available to inmates. I also was quite amazed at the level of patient autonomy that was preserved in this limited privacy setting. Quarantine is available for many patients should there be an outbreak of an illness. Privacy is kept to a very high regard and so is control of all medicines and medical supplies in the facility. I cannot say that I myself would be fit or willing to work for a jail, however the way it is run is quite intriguing. The similarities, according to the speaker, seemed very similar to any other medical facility. The only man difference I saw was when there is an emergency medical staff is not the first on the scene. The guards must first secure the area before staff is allowed to proceed in. This seems to present some ethical issues in that it puts the provider before the patient, however in this case I would have to say that it seems like a perfectly acceptable bending of ethical standards.