Medication compliance vs personal and cultural beliefs

Medication compliance vs personal and cultural beliefs For my Values/Conflict paper, I’ve picked an ethical dilemma that looks at the conflict between the professional “duty to protect” and the moral obligation to be culturally competent. I care about keeping people safe and alive, and my training tells me to use tools like the Baker Act when a client seems unresponsive or is in crisis. But I’m becoming more and more aware that what Western medicine calls a “psychiatric emergency” can often be a very deep cultural expression of comfort or distress. The conflict I intend to examine is the contradiction between following safety protocols and respecting a client’s distinct cultural beliefs, particularly when such protocols may inflict additional trauma on individuals who are new to United States mental system. I selected this model because it clearly requires the provider to “Assess” not only professional values but also cultural values. When someone is involuntarily committed, it easily touches the “client value” of dignity. This model will help me slow down and think about whether I’m acting out of real clinical need or because I have a bias toward the “medicalized” way of dealing with crisis. In my case, a Haitian woman who is on my caseload was found lying on the floor. The first responders didn’t know that such a physical reaction was not a non-verbal sign of deep emotional or spiritual shock, so they Baker Acted her. Now, she has a problem with taking medicines as directed. The system sees her refusal of psychiatric drugs as “lack of insight” or a safety risk, but the client sees the drugs as a violation of her personal and spiritual beliefs. My instinct is to drive her to follow the rules to keep her “safe” from the system, but my professional ethics say I have to respect her freedom and her right to choose her own healing process. This case shows the conflict between an institutional mindset that puts safety first and the ethical duty to give care that is humanized and culturally humble. APA 7