moral/ethical debate

[wildhorses]

Do I Have To Tell?

Chaplain Jones visits a new palliative care patient after receiving a referral. The patient has advanced disease and will go home with Hospice Care the next day. Chaplain Jones’ chart review indicates that the patient has had problems with depression.

When the visit takes place, the patient is ready to talk and within minutes he reveals to Chaplain Jones that he recently molested his 9-year-old nephew who often comes to stay with him and his wife. The patient tells Chaplain Jones that he has apologized to the nephew and made his confession and apology to the parents. Although they were very upset, they did accept his apology and took no further action. They are very active in their church. The patient tells the chaplain that he truly feels remorse for his actions because he knows how he was affected when he was sexually abused as a child. The patient states that he wants to talk with a chaplain in order to find peace before he dies. After this discussion, Chaplain Jones feels a little overwhelmed and a bit confused on where to go from here. His supervisor is out of town.

Is Chaplain Jones required to report this abuse or does the sacred office of "confession" relieve him of this duty? ….what about clergy confidentiality and privileged communication?

How much information should be charted? ….should be shared with the palliative care team? ….or the hospice team that will be handling future care?

If Chaplain Jones is required to make a report, is he also ethically obliged to inform the patient that such a report is being made?

[electron_blue]

1. Well, morals and ethics aside, I think legally he is obligated to report

He can report it anonymously, of course, and in fact even if he gives his name, it is likely that children's services will proceed with the accused as if it was anonymous. Meaning, they won't reveal the name even if it isn't "anonymous".

[MichiganVote]

3. CPS is prohibited from revealing any reporters name.

[MichiganVote]

2. Depends on the state and depends on the nature of the revelation

If the revelation was made in "confession" per Catholic church, the chaplain would have to consult state law for that also. Mandated reporting laws vary from state to state.

Anonymous reports can be made to Childrens Protective Services in all states.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Um. "Feelings" to the contrary, molesting a 9 year old is a serious crime

People who molest little kids should be prosecuted, no matter what the circumstance... and they normally are, unless they're priests- in which case, for some reason, the criminal justice system is strangely AWOL.

[electron_blue]

5. I agree and I'd like to hold people accountable who knew it was going on

even clergy.

[Boredtodeath]

6. The confessional is sacrosanct

The priest will break his vows if he reports the man.

sac·ro·sanct Pronunciation Key (skr-sngkt)
adj.

Regarded as sacred and inviolable.

For the pastor, priest or rabbi, confidentiality has a spiritual as well as professional context. In Christian denominations, the expectation of confidentiality is tied most specifically to the act of confession. But the responsibility of the pastor or priest who hears a confession varies among denominations. For Anglican and Roman Catholic priests, confession has sacramental significance, and whatever information is revealed is held in confidence by the seal of confession, with no exceptions.

Besides, this perpetrator is dying. He's made his confession to the victim's parents and THEY chose not to bring charges.

Bringing public charges with the perpetrator dead only results in branding the child for life.

What would be served by doing so?

The man will die before a trial can be conducted.

[serryjw]

8. I'm a BuJew

and I agree with you.


ATTN: Catholics

Another moral dilemma that is a true story. A young devout Catholic couple have a child. The child was tragically born with major medical problems and the doctors were trying to save the child but they knew they had very little hope and the child died 3 days after birth.

The couple wanted Last Rites for their child BUT it was NOT possible because the child was never baptized.

Please explain HOW the Church could be so cruel? (REAL story)

[Warren DeMontague]

13. So Priests are above the law?

I guess with regards to child molestation, we already have that answer in spades- otherwise the Pope would be in federal prison for conspiracy to cover up gross acts of negligence and pedophilia.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

7. If it was a confession

in the formal sense of the word, (and only a few churches have that sacrament) the chaplain would be stopped by church law from reporting it and that privilege is accepted by law.


However, I recently went for some counseling advice and signed a "contract" that told me everything we said was private UNLESS I admitted to abuse of a child. (Or I would assume an elderly person)


If I were the chaplain and it was not the sacrament of confession, I would talk to the patient and explain my dilemma. If the man is truly wanted to leave with a clean soul, he might well agree to disclosure.

If he does not, I would wait until the supervisor comes home. The law says you need to disclose, but it does not (in FL, at least) give a time frame.

[cwydro]

9. I feel very strongly about child abuse

and think these people should be reported and dealt with accordingly...Period.

[Neil Lisst]

10. No, he does not have a duty to report it to anyone.

We are told the perp has confessed to the parents. It is their decision whether to report it, whether to act.

The duty to report to CPS does not include the privileged communication of confession. Otherwise, priests would get dragged into court all the time to report what someone told them.

[banana republican]

11. Interesting question

As a former divinity student and a current CPA there are several issues here that need exploration.

First of all, many states have laws which require divulging specific crimes, most of which are of abusive nature.

Secondly, numerous religious organizations restrict divulging any information received during a "confession". Most of these are from the "High" church (e.g. catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox)

Third, there are two constitutional amendments relating to this issue 1) Religious freedom and 2)the right to privacy.

The fourth issue and perhaps the most interesting is what the word "palliative" means. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it means "serving to cloak or conceal"; "serving to relieve superficially or to temporarily alleviate(pain or sufferring"; or; "tending to excuse".

So now the issue takes a turn. Is this a "confession" or an excuse for his actions in which the patient seeks some form of "forgiveness" on his "death bed".

In the end this is a question of judgment on the part of the chaplain. Can the chaplain "discern" the patient's state of mind???

I would like to think so.

[wildhorses]

12. thank you for your comments