What Kim appears to be dealing with in Mrs. Johnson is a factitious disorder. The fact that Mrs. Johnson’s difficulty with ambulation disappeared when she had to use the restroom is suspicious, suggesting that for a moment she forgot to keep up the act she is putting on in order to have a companion in Kim. The realm of this scenario is individual, as decisions here will only affect Kim and Mrs. Johnson. There is also a small argument to be made regarding the organizational/institutional realm though. If the facility Kim works at regularly deals with patients like these, then there may be some policy in place regarding them. The individual process here is a combination of moral sensitivity and moral judgment. Kim needs to be aware of Mrs. Johnson’s …show more content…
Principle #3 states, “physical therapists shall be accountable for making sound professional judgments.” This relates directly to this scenario because Kim has a responsibility to all the other patients in the facility to make sure they receive the care that they need. Treating Mrs. Johnson would be a waste of physical therapy resources and would be considered unprofessional. Principle #4 states, “physical therapists shall demonstrate integrity in their relationships with patients/clients, families, colleagues, students, research participants, other health care providers, employers, payers, and the public.” This directly relates because I believe Kim would be failing to maintain her integrity as a physical therapist and in general a health professional if she provides treatment to Mrs. Johnson that is not medically necessary, and does so at the expense of others in her facility who actually require physical therapy treatment. Kim has two decisions she can make here. She can decide to treat Mrs. Johnson for the impairments that she seems to be putting on, such as requiring some assistance with ambulation, or she can decide to not treat Mrs. Johnson and communicate to the appropriate people that she is lonely and could greatly benefit from social involvement. It should be noted here that Kim should do as thorough an examination as possible to ensure that Mrs. Johnson actually is faking her need for assistance, to avoid a scenario where Mrs. Johnson does not receive treatment that she actually