code of ethics

PREFACE
A code of ethics is a set of principles, which guide the conduct of a group of professionals and establishes moral duties and obligations in relation to clients, institutions and society. One of the characteristics of a professional association is the development and adoption of a code of ethics.

The American Correctional Health Services Association (ACHSA) undertook the development of a code of ethics through a consultative process which included a membership survey, workshops, and adoption of a provisional set of principles in 1990. The objectives of the process were to identify fundamental values of correctional health professional and ethical conflicts in the correctional health care setting.

Distinctive features about a code of ethics for correctional health professionals became apparent. Correctional health professionals represent many health care disciplines: doctors, nurses, mid-level practitioners, psychologists, social workers, nutritionists, health information specialists, administrators. Codes of ethics are, in most cases, developed for a single professional discipline. Nonetheless, there are fundamental values that extend across health professional disciplines, especially in relation to duties and obligations towards patients.

It is the correctional institution that creates the need for a unique code of ethics for correctional health professionals. The fundamental values of correctional health professionals in relation to the institution do not arise from the culture and experience of health professionals. The duties and obligations toward the institution generated much discussion and debate during the consultation.

The ACHSA code of ethics does not emerge in a vacuum. There are the codes of ethics of the professional disciplines. There are also international principles of law and ethics, such as the World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo, the United Nations Principles of Medical Ethics, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and the International Council of Nurses Statement on the Role of the Nurse in the Care of Detainees and Prisoners.

PREAMBLE
Correctional health professionals are obligated to respect human dignity and act in ways that merit trust and prevent harm. They must ensure autonomy in decisions about their inmate patients and promote a safe environment. The following principles adopted by the American Correctional Health Services Association are not laws, but a code of conduct that defines the essentials of honorable behavior for correctional health professionals.

PRINCIPLES
The correctional health professional shall:

Respect the law and also recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interest of the patient.
Evaluate the inmate as a patient or client in each and every health care encounter.
Render medical treatment only when it is justified by an accepted medical diagnosis. Treatment and invasive procedures shall be rendered after informed medical consent.
Afford inmates the right to refuse care and treatment. Involuntary treatment shall be reserved for emergency situations in which there is grave disability or immediate threat of danger to the inmate or theirs.
Provide sound privacy during health care services in all cases and sight privacy whenever possible.
Provide health care to all inmates regardless of custody status.
Identify themselves to their patients and not represent themselves as other than their professional license or certification permit.
Collect and analyze specimens only for diagnostic testing based on sound medical principles.
Perform body cavity searches only after training in proper techniques and when they are not in a patient-provider relationship with the inmate.
Not be involved in any aspect of execution of the death penalty.
Ensure that al medical information is confidential and health care records shall be maintained and transported in a confidential manner.
Honor custody functions but not participate in such functions as escorting inmates, forced transfers, security supervision, strip searches or witnessing use of force.
Undertake biomedical research on prisoners only when the research methods meet all requirements for experimentation on human subjects and individual prisoners or prison populations are expected to derive benefits from the results of the research.