Title: Case Study Assignment
Course: PHT 2931 Trends in Physical Therapy > Section: Module 1

After completing the assigned readings; answer the questions listed; then post in a text or word document by clicking on Assignment 1.

Please review the Case study below and using the knowledge you gained reading the above material answer the two questions.

- Go to the official web site of the American Physical Therapy Association at  www.apta.org.  You do not need to be a member of the APTA to access the below information.
- Go to the category of “Practice and Patient Care”. Click on “Ethics and Professionalism”.
- Then scroll down and locate APTA “Core Ethics Documents”.  Click on that.
- At the web site, locate and read the APTA Standards of Ethical Conduct for PTs.
  - Read the Guide for Conduct of the PT also.

Case Study:

Paula is a PTA in a skilled nursing facility.  Her supervising PT has just performed an evaluation on a new patient, Mrs. Ima Hurtin, and has asked Paula to continue treating her.  Mrs. Hurtin is a 78 year old female who suffered a right hip fracture due to tripping over her cat while going to the refrigerator in the middle of the night.  She has been seen several times in the SNF and is well known to the staff; in fact they call her a “frequent flyer”.  She has a long history of morbid obesity, cardiac disease, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and DJD.   She just received a total hip replacement.  Paula’s supervising PT tells Paula to put Mrs. Hurtin in a time slot that allows Paula only 15 minutes to work with her because “it’s her own fault and she deserved what she got. There’s no sense wasting time on her.  The staff has told her many times to go on a diet and she ignores us.  She doesn’t even fit into any of our wheelchairs.  We also told her to get rid of that cat and she wouldn’t.  Besides, she doesn’t have good insurance.”

Question 1: Briefly discuss which ethical principles are possibly being compromised in this instance. (Your argument does not need to be any longer than a paragraph at most.)   Use information from the Standards of Ethical Conduct and then use the Guide for Conduct to back up your opinion. You should list the Standards that are violated by number and letter.

Question 2: How do you think Paula should handle this situation?

Incorporate the readings into your response. Cite any references, outside of the text, that you use to develop your response. All answers must be substantive and contain at least 10 sentences. Please make sure that your answers are well-written, grammatically correct, and informative. Please refer to the assessment rubric for grading details and the course calendar for due date. This assignment is worth 100 points.