For this paper, critical thinking came into play was logic. It is understood that initially the nursing profession had issues with HIPAA. These issues were practical, however, and when the law was matched up against the underlying principles and the Code of Ethics, it became apparent that the guidelines that can be used for resolving any ethical dilemma are fairly consistent. There is still some leeway for professional judgment, as Lo et al. (2005) wrote but the Code of Ethics does a strong job of filling in the blanks left behind by the legislation. Once this was pieced together, the argument for easy resolution of ethical dilemmas became clear.

References:

American Nursing Association. (2009). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. American Nursing Association. Retrieved...

(2009). News: New "red flags rule' focuses on medical identity theft. Contemporary OB/GYN. Retrieved October 17, 2009, from http://contemporaryobgyn.modernmedicine.com/obgyn/Modern+Medicine+Now/News-New-Red-Flags-Rule-focuses-on-medical-identit/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/597492
Lo, B.; Dornbrand, L. & Dubler, N. (2005). HIPAA and patient care: The role for professional development. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2005; 293: 1766-1771.

No author. (2003). What is HIPAA? HIPAAps.com. Retrieved October 17, 2009, from http://www.hipaaps.com/main/background.html

Wielawski, I. (2009). HIPAA: Not so bad after all? American Journal of Nursing. Vol. 109, 7: 22-24.