Ethical Business Communications

When communicating with any audience through any medium, there are only two types of basic communication: ethical and unethical.  Ethical communication is very simply being entirely honest in one’s communication (Bovée & Thill 6).  To break this down further it means not telling a white lie to soften a blow or distorting facts to making the information seem an easier pill to swallow.  The information is the presenter’s own or used with permission and acknowledgement of the author (Bovée & Thill 6).

S-OX and Healthcare

My introduction to Sarbanes-Oxley, hereafter referred to as SOX, came during my work as a trade analyst working to classify and qualify products for NAFTA preference during the importation process.  Our business utilized an Excel based template to enter equations and determine percentages of qualification for this federal program.  If during the copy and paste step of the formulas any error was made, we could be qualifying products that should not have been eligible, or vice versa.  Through our business’ implementation of SOX approved checks and balances, we were able to spot check our work for accuracy and ensure that we had applied the due diligence required by law to ensure the goods’ eligibility for importation incise reduction.  And that is the basic purpose behind SOX, to ensure a means of verifying data and implementing random audits to said data.

The Impact of Behavioural Characteristics on Groups and Teams in Healthcare

When persons are in a group setting, their sense of self diminishes and can bring about anxiety; how they deal with that anxiety can be directly traced back to their behavioral characteristics (Straker).     Every person is a unique individual and has their own ingrained manner of dealing with anxiety, complexities and tasks.  The way in which those reactions interact is the salient characteristic of the collection of individuals, whether in a group or team setting.  Simply put, the type of personality of an individual determines how that person interacts with other people, as well as how the approach their work (DeCenzo & Robbins 259).

Emmanuel Edward Baetge, A Leader in Healthcare

In 1974, Emmanuel Edward Baetge was just one of many Poway High School seniors, ready to explore what the world had to offer him, and he to offer to the world (Classmates.com).  Within four years, he had earned his BA in biology from the University of California and was off to Cornell University to earn his Ph. D. in molecular neurobiology, which he attained in 1983 (Luy, 2009).  Within twenty-five years, Dr. Baetge would grace the cover of Forbes magazine for his accomplishments in the studies of diabetes (Langreth and Herper, 2008).

Bioethics and the Nuremburg Trials

The term bioethics is credited to a few various notables; earliest of these is Aldo Leopold, who coined the term in his environmental studies works from the early 1940s (Englehardt, 162).  It wasn’t until Dr. Van Rensselaer Potter II referenced this term in regards to medical studies in the 1970s though that it gained attention (Gilbert).  This was furthered by the work of Sargent Shriver, who in the 1970s, helped to establish an institute at Georgetown University called The Joseph and Rose Kennedy Center for the Study of Human Reproduction and Bioethics, named for his in-laws.  His objective serves as the best definition for bioethics that this writer has yet come across:  to apply moral philosophy to medical dilemmas (Levin, 5).

Medical Privacy Laws

“The intensity and complexity of life…have rendered necessary some retreat from the world, and man, under the refining influence of culture, has become more sensitive to publicity, so that solitude and privacy have become more essential to the individual; but modern enterprise and invention have, through invasions upon his privacy, subjected him to mental pain and distress, far greater than could be inflicted by mere bodily injury” (Warren, et al).  This was the finding of US Supreme Court Justices Warren and Brandeis and while it may seem a reflection on modern-day privacy invasions as a result of the technological age, they were writing more than a century ago.  When they write of the anguish endured by an individual who has suffered from a violation of privacy, a visual image is presented of the intensity that such a violation can present in the life of that innocent individual.

Infectious Materials and Handling Protocols

Every year, medical facilities create 3.2 million tons of hazardous waste, which is categorized into four areas: solid, chemical, radioactive, and infectious (Fremgen, 165).  The latter, infectious, means that the waste material “as the potential to carry disease” and more than 320,000 tons of the hazardous waste created each year is considered infectious (Fremgen, 166).  OSHA defines (other potentially) infectious materials, or OPIM, as being human bodily fluids; unfixed human tissues or organs; fluids, tissues or organs from an HBV or HIV infected experimental animal; and HBV or HIV carrying cultures (OSHA).  This can also include contaminated inanimate objects and there are precautionary methods for handling encounters with these materials.

Collection Laws

A debt is defined as “a consumer’s obligation to pay money arising out of a transaction in which money, property, insurance, or services are primarily for personal, family or household purposes” (Fair Debt Collection.com).  However, when consumers need medical care, they all too often overlook the costs in lieu of their health, assuming that their insurance is fully responsible for the costs and that it is the obligation of the physician to bill their insurance (Fair Debt Collection.com).  When the latter does not occur, the debts come due.  Over 60 million dollars of those debts go unpaid in the US each year (McLaughlin).  Thus, the need for collections arises.

Consent Defined

Consent is defined as permission, simply put.  It permits a medical professional to “touch, examine and perform a treatment”, based on that voluntary agreement (Fremgen, 107).  There are various methods of giving consent or permission however, and not all are oral or written in a concise manner that leaves no question.  For instance, implied consent has to be presumed, based on a person’s actions; yet informed consent occurs after an individual has been informed of their options and they make a specific choice.

The principles of respondeat superior, case studies

No matter what diligence an employer invests in the selection of the best employee for the job, the actions of that employee while employed can legally be reflected onto the employer.  This is known as respondeat superior. 

Scope of Practise and Standards of Care

A standard of care is defined by what is considered acceptable in a given field; while a scope of practice is defined by the legal guidelines for an individual with the specific level of skill for that position.  Each member of a medical facility has a set of duties and obligations that they are expected to fulfill, and likewise have duties for which they are prohibited from being responsible, this is known as the scope of practice (Fremgen, 60).  Standard of care is a term used to give meaning to the basic level of skill and consideration that medical professionals are required to use with their patients; the care being the basic equivalent to similar professionals in the same field (Fremgen, 55).

Medical Ethics, Bioethics and Medical Legalities, A Study

The primary focus in medical ethics is the welfare of the patient, with the medical professional being forced to decide the fair manner in which to provide for that welfare (Fremgen, 8).  The dilemma enters when the professional must pick from an either or situation, using the principles of medical ethics to make a decision.  After the Haitian earthquake, there were literally tens of thousands of victims, needing various degrees of medical care.  The Israeli government mobilized a task force to establish a temporary hospital on the island to assist in meeting the needs of these victims.  Dr. Merin, who was a part of this task force, wrote of the continual dilemmas he and the staff were faced with as they struggled with a limit amount of resources to care for patients, “We were faced with the challenge of establishing an ethical and practical system of medical priorities in a setting of chaos,”

Tort Reformation Movement

When a person’s life is on the line, when their health is at stake, there will always be the risk that the medical team may fail to make the best decision or make a mistake that jeopardizes the individual.  Whether the result is an injury, an illness, emotional distress or fatal, it is considered a tort (Simon et al).  In the legal sense, it is a non-criminal activity that resulted in harm to an individual where they deserve compensatory justice in a civil court setting.  Most physicians have malpractice insurance coverage which pays the damages to the potential injured patient (Beam).  However, as jurors begin to award higher amounts of damages to victims, the cost of this insurance has sky-rocketed and to offset the cost of the premiums, physicians charge more for their services (Beam).

Ethical Work Behaviour Is Shaped By…

Ethical behaviour is shaped by the individuals who work at a particular business and their unique diversity.  Ethics is what guides our actions, reactions and interactions.  They are the choices we make that are right, no matter whether we like them or if we like the outcome (Curry).  “Ethics serves as the soil in which the seed of diversity must be planted,” writes Aly Colón (Colón).  Our diversity, our environment, as unique as it is to us as individuals, is what shapes our ethics; it defines the True North of our moral compass.

Wrongful Discharge Case Summary

When terminating an employee, even with just cause, it is critical to have documented policies and even then, there is a risk of a lawsuit.  “Terminating an employee is akin to walking through a minefield.  One wrong step and it can blow up in your face.” says Walter S. White, president of W.S. White Computer Enterprises, Newark NJ (Lee).  Ann Kiernan, an employment attorney, suggests ensuring that your company’s employee handbook clearly defines how discipline of employees will be handled and making certain that there is a documented procedure for terminations (Lee).  “The importance of documentation cannot be overemphasized…having a paper trail that documents your efforts and your willingness to work with the employee shows jurors you have been fair” says Ms. Kiernan (Lee).  Termination should be the final step following a series of attempts to improve an employee’s behaviour and the business should be able to summon proof that every opportunity was given for the employee and that termination was the only option left.  If the company fails to do this, they may find themselves in court, as provided in the following example of a wrongful termination lawsuit.